Xiaomi co-founder the vice president Li Wanqiang has dismissed rumors that the upcoming Xiaomi Mi4 smartphone will have a metal back.
The company will be holding its 2014 Annual Product Event on Tuesday, July 22, where it is widely expected to unveil the Xiaomi Mi3 successor. The invitation Xiaomi sent out to the media is not a simple paper-made invite, it's an intriguing one that hints to metal.
Judging that Xiaomi went for a metal-made invitation for its upcoming launch event, the Chinese media drew the conclusion that the invite may be a hint to the Xiaomi Mi4's metal back cover.
The purported Xiaomi Mi4 has also leaked online on several occasions ahead of its July 22 launch, but it now seems that some of those leaks were misleading. More specifically, Chinese site CNBeta (via GSMDome) recently posted a couple of images allegedly showing the front and rear panels of the Xiaomi Mi4, and the rear cover looked like metal. As it turns out, however, the smartphone will not boast a metal back after all, according to the company's vice president.
In an effort to put an end to all of this speculation about the upcoming Mi4's build, Xiaomi's Li Wanqiang explained on his Weibo account (via GSM Insider) that the smartphone may incorporate a lot of metal in its build, but will not actually come with a metal back cover.
Nevertheless, the upcoming Xiaomi Mi4 is still expected to launch as a real powerhouse with top-of-the-line specs and features and an affordable price tag compared to other high-end flagships out there.
Based on rumors and speculation so far, the yet-to-be-announced Xiaomi Mi4 will come with a $485 price tag and boast a 5.5-inch display with QHD or full HD resolution (contradicting rumors), a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor clocked at 2.5GHz, Adreno 330 graphics, 3GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage capacity, and a 3,050 or 3,200 mAh battery. Other rumored specs for the Xiaomi Mi4 include a 13-megapixel rear camera with CMOS sensor and auto focus, a 5- or 8-megapixel front shooter, and Android 4.4 KitKat with MIUI v5 or v6 on board.
Nothing is confirmed at this point, but with Xiaomi's big launch event just one day away, we'll soon learn all there is to know straight from the source. We'll keep you up to date as soon as more information becomes available regarding the Xiaomi Mi4, so stay tuned.
