Selfie-centric Redmi Y1, Y1 Lite launched in India

Xiaomi India on Thursday launched the selfie-centric Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite smartphones and announced the release of the global version of MIUI 9 — an upgrade to its customised Android-based operating system (OS).

Redmi Y1 has been launched at a price point of Rs 8,999 for 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant and Rs 10,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage variant.

Redmi Y1 Lite is the cheaper sibling in the selfie-centric series at a price of Rs 6,999.

Both the smartphones will go on sale starting November 8 on e-commerce site Amazon.in.

Radmi Y1 is Xiaomi's first smartphone in India which features selfie light and a 16 MP front facing camera. It has a 13MP f/2.0 rear camera.

The device has 5.5 inch HD display with Corning Gorilla glass and is powered by a 3,080mAh battery.

Redmi Y1 houses Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 octa-core chipset, a dedicated micro-SD card slot and dual-SIM (nano+nano) slots. The fingerprint sensor is placed at the rear of the device.

Meanwhile, Redmi Y1 Lite features an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 processor, sports a dedicated micro-SD card slot with dual-SIM (nano+nano) capabilities and 5.5 inch HD display.

Similar to Redmi Y1, the smartphone features a 13 MP f/2.0 rear camera and is powered by a 3080mAh battery.

Meanwhile, MIUI 9 upgrade will start rolling out from November 3, starting with three devices — Mi Max 2, Mi Mix 2 and Redmi Note 4 smartphones.

The update includes India-specific features such as a "panchang calender", Indian festival cards and IRCTC card that makes SMSes by IRCTC easy to read.

According to Jai Mani, Lead Product Manager, Xiaomi India, MIUI 9 will be as fast as stock Android OS.

The new OS based on Android Nougat also supports three major style notifications which are multiple styles, bundling notifications and quick replies.