Xiaomi is definitely prepping the Xiaomi Mi 9 behind their curtains and it’s about time leaks regarding the Xiaomi Mi 9 begin to leak. Over the past year, Xiaomi has drastically changed their smartphone lineup and landscape in the smartphone industry and there’s a good reason why Xiaomi would be releasing the Xiaomi Mi 9 way earlier than last year’s Mi 8. Since nothing about the Mi 9 has been leaked so far, apart from a few speculations, courtesy of Ben Geskin, here’s our take on when and why Xiaomi would be releasing the Xiaomi Mi 9 way earlier this year.

The Xiaomi Mi 9’s Release Date Could Come In As Early As March/April 2019

Xiaomi has been playing with their release schedules for a while now. With the company now pushing for the successor to the Mi 8, most probably dubbed as the Mi9, it seems like Xiaomi would be playing their release dates carefully this time around. The Xiaomi Mi 6 followed the usual launch schedule from 2016’s Mi 5 with the device making its debut in April for each of the two devices. Following the launch of the Mi 6, enthusiasts were aching to see what Xiaomi has in store for 2018. Fast forward to April 2018 and enthusiasts were getting increasingly anxious regarding the arrival of the Mi 7. However, Xiaomi did not release the Mi 8 until June later this year suggesting that Xiaomi has changed some of their deadlines along the way.

The Race For The Snapdragon 855

The race for Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC has become a whole lot more intense than previous SoCs. Last month, Qualcomm announced their next major flagship SoC, the Snapdragon 855. The newly introduced SoC would be powering some of the very best flagships from all across the aisle with Lenovo leading the race with the launch of the Z5 Pro GT.

The race for the Snapdragon 855 seemed to become even more intense when both, Samsung and OnePlus were caught in the feud suggesting that they would be among the first manufacturers to sport Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 SoC. Days later, Xiaomi decided to jump by revealing a Mi MiX 3 featuring the Snapdragon 855 under the hood following up on its 5G promises from the 5G hype Xiaomi has built back in October 2018.

With manufacturers stalking the Snapdragon 855 this much, there’s a good chance that Xiaomi wants to get into the race as well and won’t let its arch nemesis, OnePlus, get away with an early launch.

Xiaomi Would Want To Keep The Poco F2 Launch Further Apart

One of the biggest shocks from 2018 had to be launch announcement of Xiaomi’s new sub-brand, Poco. With the launch of the sub-brand, Xiaomi shook the smartphone industry with the launch of their first device under the Poco branding, dubbed as the Poco F1 (review). For $299, Xiaomi was basically offering a “flagship killer… killer”. Featuring a Snapdragon 845 SoC, 8GB RAM and 256GB of internal storage, Xiaomi managed to stick to the basics while offering a solid performer alongside the Mi 8. Everyone knew, including Xiaomi how this launch would basically undermine Xiaomi’s own flagship, the Mi 8, but Xiaomi persisted.

To keep enough of a distance, Xiaomi would most likely launch the Poco F2 later that year, most probably in August 2019, to give the Xiaomi Mi 9 some spotlight. If they do release the Mi 9 alongside Samsung’s Galaxy S10 series of devices, which is expected to be revealed by March/April 2019, Xiaomi would have about five months to keep the Mi 9 in the spotlight unlike the 2018 release where the Mi 8 barely got three months worth of spotlight. After all, at the end of the day, Mi 9 is where Xiaomi would want to show off its prowess against OnePlus and Huawei. If true, this would definitely be a smart move from Xiaomi.

Finalizing Our Speculation For The Xiaomi Mi 9

These are the two major reasons why Xiaomi could potentially release the Mi 9 sooner than what we had expected. At least, that’s what we could speculate so far. The Xiaomi Mi 9 would be the device that would showcase the best of Xiaomi apart from the Mi MiX lineup.

If we do find a few more points along the line, we’ll be sure to add it here. Until then, this is our take on why Xiaomi could potentially release the Mi 9 earlier than expected.

Also, if you’re interested, read our list of predictions for the OnePlus 7.