Xiaomi Mi A1 sale starts today: A budget smartphone with flagship features

The smartphone, with the promising Android One and sporting a brilliant dual camera phone, goes on sale in India on September 19

The Xiaomi Mi A1, whose India sale begins from noon on September 19, seems an identical twin of the Mi 5X. The only difference lies in the operating system these devices run on. The Mi A1 is the first Xiaomi smartphone to use stock Android version instead of company's heavily customised MIUI theme.

It is also a first premium mobile phone to wear the Android One moniker, created with the promise of a pure Android experience and quicker software updates, and earlier limited to budget smartphones. That indeed is the device’s USP, but how does it fare on other parameters?