Xiaomi just recently launched another smartphone, Xiaomi Mi 4i, for Rs 12,999. Like its predecessors, the Xiaomi Mi 4i too proved a attention grabber and kept Xiaomi’s record intact by going out of stock in its first flash sale within seconds (15 seconds to be precise).
Meanwhile, in the sub-Rs 20,000 segment, Samsung has earlier this year launched its Galaxy Grand Max which is currently retailing for Rs 14,990 (best price).
So we have deciced to compare these two smartphones to check out which one is a better bargain.
Xiaomi Mi 4i is quite light (130gm) and slim (7.8mm) for a phone with a 5 inch display. It has a non-removable polycarbonate rear cover which has a soft touch matte finish. It has smooth rounded corners and edges. It has no expandable storage slot and the dual SIM tray is located on its left side. Its 5 inch IPS display with a Resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, resulting in a Pixel density of 441 ppi.
On the other hand, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max has a slightly bigger 5.25 inch IPS display but it comes with of 720 x 1280 pixels resolution which though is quite less than the Mi 4i’s display but it is still decent.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Max is also quite slim (it measures 146 x 74.8 x 7.9 mm) but it is a bit heavier at 161 grams.
Curiously, despite being the smaller and lighter handset, the Xiaomi Mi 4i offers much bigger battery – a 3120 mAh unit, against the 2500 mAh battery of Samsung Galaxy Grand Max. The Mi 4i had also impressed us a lot during our review which you can read here. Unfortunately, we haven’t had a chance to review the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max so cannot comment on its battery life.
Xiaomi also is quite impressive on the paper with its 1.7 GHz octa-core processor and 2 GB RAM. But the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max is also not that bad as it has a 1.2 GHz quad core processor and 1.5 GB RAM. Infact, the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max is much better when it comes to storage with its 16 GB Internal Memory and a micro SD card slot that can handle a micro SD card of up to 64 GB. On the other hand the Xiaomi Mi 4i has no expandable storage slot and its internal memory is just 16 GB of which just 10.92 GB is available for users.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Max runs on Android KitKat, but has Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, which adds many additional features; but the Xiaomi Mi 4i runs on Android Lollipop, with MiUI 6.0.
In terms of camera, there seems to be no difference between the Xiaomi Mi 4i and the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max, atleast on paper. Both the phones offer 13 Megapixel rear camera and a 5 megapixel front camera. The Grand Max has only one flash light against two of Xiaomi handset.
The Samsung Galaxy Grand Max is a 4G phone with WiFi, WiFi direct, WiFi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS. While the Xiaomi Mi 4i also has 4G, with all the regular connectivity options such as GPS with A-GPS and GLONASS, WiFi, WiFi hotspot, and Bluetooth 4.0.
Conclusion
The Xiaomi Mi 4i is ahead of the Samsung Galaxy Grand Max when it comes to design, display, processing ability, software, and battery too. But if you require expandable storage, and slightly larger screen, the Grand Max is the one to go for. Ofcourse, brand name and availability are two big issues which goes in favour of the Samsung smartphone.