It’s no secret at this point — Xiaomi is about to release an Android TV dongle called the “Mi TV Stick.” Although the device was officially announced, it’s still not launched, but that’s not stopped multiple retail listings and leaked screenshots from revealing more Mi TV Stick details like 4K support, multiple models, and what’s in the box.
Previously, only one Xiaomi Mi TV Stick was supposed to reach the market — a 4K-capable, in a smaller case, slightly upgraded Mi Box S. But now, an Aliexpress listing has revealed this is a second variant.
As previously leaked on Gearbest, the primary Mi TV Stick is a 4K-capable device running on Google’s Android TV featuring a quad-core Amlogic S905Y2, 8 GB ram, and 2 GB RAM chip. It even uses USB-C to charge, potentially opening the door to get a bit more functionality out of the port using dongles.
What’s the new low-end model about? It has only 1 GB, instead of 2 GB of RAM. It offers just 1080p, instead of 4K output. Instead of USB-C, microUSB. The physical hardware seems almost identical, as does the allotment for the processor and storage.
Xiaomi can probably compete with more price ranges with these two models available. For example, the regular Xiaomi Mi TV Stick, which was previously supposed to cost about $80, might go up against the Roku Streaming Stick+ and the Fire TV Stick — both of which undercut it at $50 on price — where this new “FHD” model could end up competing better with something like the super-cheap Roku Express.
However, these leaked listings do show the prices at $49 and $133, respectively, and I personally call at least the latter fake news. If the rumors are correct, $49 and $79 seem like great price points for Xiaomi to hit, but if not, going down would only help them to compete better with Roku and Amazon!
