Xiaomi co-founder Bin Lin has revealed a new, LTE-enabled edition of the Redmi 1S. Supporting China’s TDD-LTE network, the Redmi 1S also features some slight differences in hardware compared to the 3G version.
While the new Redmi 1S 4G looks virtually the same as the old Redmi and Redmi 1S, but internally there are five major differences. The first, of course, is with the addition of TDD-LTE connectivity support, which is used by China Mobile, one of the largest carriers in China. Secondly, the battery capacity has also been increased by 10%, which now holds 2200mAh. Then, there’s the omission of dual-SIM support, opting instead for a single-SIM TDD-LTE setup. In addition, the MIUI v5 software has also been updated to Android 4.4.
Finally, depending on how you look at it, the processor has been downgraded to a MediaTek MT6582 1.3GHz processor. Technically, this isn’t actually a downgrade – the China Mobile variant of the Redmi had always been using the MediaTek chipset – but the Redmi 1S actually featured a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.6GHz quad-core processor. We cannot confirm exactly when Xiaomi has done it, but it appears all variants of the Redmi smartphone is now known as the Redmi 1S.
It’s a little confusing now, but nothing has changed for international consumers. The Redmi 1S 4G currently only supports TDD-LTE which is only actively used by China Mobile. For international customers, the Redmi 1S that is being sold via Xiaomi’s international webstores is still the Qualcomm-powered ones.
And, just like the Redmi Note 4G announcement last week, the Redmi 1S 4G will not see an increase in price. The Redmi 1S 4G will retain the 699 Yuan (about RM363) price tag for the China Mobile version, while the Snapdragon 400-powered variant will remain priced at 799 Yuan (about RM415). The Redmi 1S 4G will be available in the Chinese market starting from this Saturday, August 16. Unlike the Redmi Note 4G, however, this variant will not be available outside of China – the TDD-LTE network it supports isn’t usable outside of China anyway.
