Xiaomi launches the Mi 3 smartphone in India for $250

Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi has launched its first smartphone in the Indian market, the Xiaomi Mi 3. The phone is priced at ₹14,999 ($250) and will go on sale on July 15.

The Xiaomi (pronounced 'shao-mee') Mi 3 is the company's flagship device but you won't be able to tell that from the pricing. The phone packs a 5.0-inch, 1920x1080 resolution IPS panel from LG or Sharp, Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 SoC with quad-core 2.3GHz CPU and Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage (non-expandable), 13 megapixel rear camera, 2 megapixel front camera, 3050mAh battery and MIUI 5 on Android 4.3.

It is important to note that while the Xiaomi phones don't come with the Play Store and Google apps in China, they will support them in India.

No official word on retail availability so far but it is said that Flipkart will be one of the retailers of the device.

Along with the Mi 3 smartphone, Xiaomi has also launched the Mi Power Bank in 10400mAh and 5200mAh capacities but without pricing and availability details.