Xiaomi launches Redmi Y-series selfie smartphones, ropes in Katrina Kaif

China-based electronics maker Xiaomi on Thursday introduced the Redmi Y-series with the launch of the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite in India. The company has roped in Bollywood celebrity Katrina Kaif to endorse the selfie-centric smartphone series. The budget smartphones will go on sale starting November 8 on Amazon India and Mi online store.

The Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite look almost identical but are different in terms of specifications and camera set-ups.

The key differentiator for the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite is the selfie camera, which is also the key feature of the new series. The Redmi Y1 sports a 16-megapixel front camera assisted with LED flash, while the Redmi Y1 Lite sports a 5 MP selfie camera without LED flash.

Another difference lies in the strength of the processor, internal storage and RAM. The Redmi Y1 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 system on chip (SoC), coupled with two storage and RAM options – 32GB/3GB and 64GB/4GB. The Redmi Y1 Lite is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC coupled with 2GB RAM and 16 GB internal storage.

Both the smartphones sport 5.5-inch HD screens covered with Gorilla Glass for protection against accidental scratches. There is a 13 MP camera assisted with phase detection autofocus (PDAF) technology and LED flash in both the devices. The smartphones can house dual SIM cards and there is a dedicated microSD card slot to expand the storage. Both the devices run on 3,080 mAh battery.

As for the pricing, the Redmi Y1 is priced at Rs 8,999 for the base model and Rs 10,999 for the higher model. The Redmi Y1 Lite is priced at Rs 6,999.

Xiaomi's latest budget offering, the Xiaomi Redmi 4, went on sale at 12 noon on Friday, exclusively on Flipkart and mi.com. In the first flash sale that had taken place on May 23, the smartphone had seen a huge interest from buyers and registered a record sales number of a whopping 250,000 units within the first eight minutes. According to Amazon.in, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 had recorded more than 10 million hits per minute on the site, after having received some 2.3 million ‘notify me’ alerts from customers since the launch announcement on May 16.

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