MWC 2019: Xiaomi Mi 9 Global Launch Press Event Live Blog (9:30am UTC)

04:20AM EST - Xiaomi recently launched the Mi 9 in China, and today at MWC the company will launch it globally. We're here ready to report on the launch, as well as looking out for any extra announcements.

04:23AM EST - Less than 10 minutes to go, and this is by far Xiaomi's biggest press event at MWC

04:23AM EST - They've hired out Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, which in the past Samsung has used

04:25AM EST - Ian is on text, Anton is standing nearer the front to do the photos

04:29AM EST - Just before it begins, we get a video of the other products Xiaomi makes

04:29AM EST - Air purifiers, IP cameras, floor cleaners, clocks

04:30AM EST - Mood lighting

04:31AM EST - Xiaomi is one of the companies that plays off of its fan base a lot, at both official events and fan events. They've started inviting the most serious Xiaomi fans to events like this, alongside press and partners

04:32AM EST - It's clear that Xiaomi should have booked a bigger hall. Typically the first press event of the day gets a crazy big reception

04:34AM EST - Five minute call, looks like we're starting a little bit late

04:37AM EST - Cristiano Amon, President of Qualcomm is here

04:38AM EST - So something 5G is clearly going to be discussed

04:39AM EST - Here we go

04:40AM EST - Dominic Sung (?) to the stage

04:40AM EST - this is Xiaomi's first product launch at an MWC

04:40AM EST - The theme is 'make it happen'

04:41AM EST - This explains Xiaomi's attitude as a young company

04:41AM EST - Xiaomi always has the mentality to make it happen

04:41AM EST - Uniquely built by fans for fans

04:41AM EST - Invited Xiaomi Fans to the event. They're at the front, rather than the press. Of course

04:42AM EST - The fans are the reason for innovation

04:42AM EST - 'Mi Explorers'

04:42AM EST - In 2014, did 10b in US revenue

04:42AM EST - In 2017, did 15b in US revenue

04:43AM EST - #4 Smartphone brand in the world, 32% YoY growth according to analysts

04:43AM EST - 224 million active smartphone users (what?)

04:43AM EST - First market Xiaomi entered in Europe was Spain

04:43AM EST - Entered UK in November

04:44AM EST - #1 for open market sales in spain in 15 months

04:44AM EST - Many people know Xiaomi as a smartphone company, but we have a full range of ecosystem IoT products

04:44AM EST - #1 in wearables due to popular Mi Band

04:44AM EST - Mi e-Scooters are also popular

04:45AM EST - Shipped over 560k Mi Scooters

04:45AM EST - Best selling personal transportation device in 2018

04:45AM EST - Also number one smart TV brand in China

04:45AM EST - Also shipping to India and other countries

04:45AM EST - 2000+ Xiaomi ecosystem product portfolio

04:46AM EST - Over 200 partner companies

04:46AM EST - smart lighting with Philips

04:46AM EST - World's largest consumer IoT platform

04:47AM EST - Time for a Mi Home demo

04:47AM EST - Buy online or offline

04:48AM EST - Smart door, smart TV

04:48AM EST - Smart purifier with smart voice assistant

04:49AM EST - Google Assistant

04:49AM EST - Obviously, live demo fails

04:49AM EST - Control lighting with smartphone app

04:51AM EST - All products are created with four pillars

04:51AM EST - Innocation, Quality, something, something

04:52AM EST - Today is focusing on innovation and 5G

04:52AM EST - This year is very different. 5G will become reality

04:52AM EST - Driving smartphone and IoT

04:52AM EST - Xiaomi is focused on Smartphone and AIoT

04:52AM EST - A dual line strategy

04:53AM EST - investing over $1.47b USD in next few years

04:53AM EST - 5G enables faster speeds, low latency, and increased connectivity

04:53AM EST - What does 5G mean to consumers?

04:55AM EST - More people, more devices, communicating more and faster

04:55AM EST - IoT can play in 5G as well

04:55AM EST - 5G + AI = intelligent connectivity for IoT through the cloud

04:55AM EST - not only person-to-person comms, but person-to-device and device-to-device

04:55AM EST - Enabling new use cases

04:56AM EST - with xiaomi's full range of devices, the company is greatly positioned to drive innovations

04:56AM EST - Already ahead in the 5G era

04:56AM EST - Started researching early in 5G

04:57AM EST - contributed to narrowband-IoT standard

04:57AM EST - Pushing 5G as early as possible

04:57AM EST - Connected a smartphone to a 5G network in September 2018

04:57AM EST - Xiaomi has entered the 5G era

04:58AM EST - at the forefront of the next wave of 5G innovation

04:58AM EST - Cristiano Amon to the stage

04:58AM EST - President of qualcomm

04:58AM EST - Talking about the partnership between Xiaomi and Qualcomm

04:59AM EST - Xiaomi was one of the first companies to bring Snapdragon 800 to the Chinese market

04:59AM EST - Qualcomm likes to work with Xiaomi because they take risks

04:59AM EST - Qualcomm wants to create winners

04:59AM EST - 5G is here. In 2019.

05:00AM EST - The year of 5G

05:00AM EST - In the hands of consumers as early as Q2 2019

05:00AM EST - transition will be faster than to 4G

05:00AM EST - users are now more educated

05:01AM EST - With the launch of 4G, Qualcomm had 2 operators. Today with 5G, there are 20 operators

05:01AM EST - Xiaomi will be well positioned

05:01AM EST - We'll think different about our devices

05:01AM EST - Multi-gigabit speeds and low latency

05:01AM EST - unlimited speeds, unlimited data-rates, unlimited connectivity

05:01AM EST - 4K video is going to be as easy as streaming music

05:02AM EST - Generate and share content

05:02AM EST - The low latency will create virtual presence

05:02AM EST - Going to change connectivity and bring innovation

05:02AM EST - It doesn't just stop at phones - connecting everything

05:03AM EST - Because 5G enables the user to be connected with the cloud 100% of the time, you will start to see the apps in the cloud instead

05:03AM EST - It is less about the OS, more about the experience

05:03AM EST - bringing cloud machine learning to devices

05:03AM EST - This is how we see change in the smartphone

05:03AM EST - Leveraging computing in the cloud

05:04AM EST - All of this will come to live in 2019 with the Snapdragon 855 + X50 modem

05:04AM EST - Xiaomi understand the value of premium

05:04AM EST - 855 is the fastest mobile platform

05:04AM EST - driving a new array of experiences

05:04AM EST - evolving connectivity and ML at the same time

05:04AM EST - 4th Gen AI engine on S855

05:04AM EST - 2x faster than the nearest android competitor

05:05AM EST - AI will see the fastest growth inside a 5G device

05:05AM EST - 855 offers Elite Gaming

05:05AM EST - It's not just about faster graphics

05:05AM EST - Unleashing the power of mobile

05:06AM EST - Mobile Gaming is one of the fastest growing industries

05:06AM EST - 'With the launch of the Xiaomi 5G device'

05:06AM EST - Proud of the partnership

05:06AM EST - Xiaomi Mix 3 5G

05:06AM EST - Looks like Cristiano just announced the new phone

05:07AM EST - ok now Donovan Sung to the stage

05:07AM EST - Mi MIX 3 5G

05:07AM EST - one of the world's first commercial 5G smartphones

05:07AM EST - coming to market very soon

05:07AM EST - Snapdragon 855 + X50 modem

05:08AM EST - All new Kryo 485, +45% perf

05:08AM EST - All new Kryo 485, +45% perf

05:08AM EST - New fast download speeds

05:09AM EST - Now for a video call demo

05:10AM EST - Live 5G call

05:10AM EST - First Xiaomi 5G call outside of china

05:11AM EST - Real 5G, not fake 5G

05:11AM EST - Made through Orange

05:11AM EST - Bringing 5G across western Europe

05:12AM EST - Mi MIX 3 features coming to 5G: Ceramic body, magnetic slider

05:12AM EST - Forbes, XDA Developers

05:13AM EST - 6.39-inch, 93.4% screen to body ratio

05:13AM EST - Same camera module as Mi MIX 3

05:13AM EST - Dedicated Google Assistant button

05:13AM EST - Two colors - Onyx black and sapphire blue

05:13AM EST - Dual 12MP cameras, 960 fps

05:14AM EST - 3800 mAh battery

05:14AM EST - Now price

05:15AM EST - From 599 Euro

05:15AM EST - Cheapest 5G device announced so far

05:15AM EST - Vodafone, Telefonica

05:16AM EST - Available from May

05:16AM EST - That's impressive

05:16AM EST - Next product

05:16AM EST - is Mi 9

05:17AM EST - First ever Xiaomi triple camera phone

05:18AM EST - Curved design

05:18AM EST - Two colors - Ocean Blue, Lavender Violet

05:19AM EST - Multiple-stage back cover process

05:19AM EST - nano-level color patterning, reflective coating, corning gorilla glass 5

05:19AM EST - holographic rainbow spectrum effect

05:19AM EST - Halo ring accent on top camear

05:19AM EST - camera

05:20AM EST - Sapphire glass cover on rear cameras

05:20AM EST - Launching in three offical colors in West EU: and also piano black

05:21AM EST - Mi 8 was a popular flagship device. Mi 8 was curved edge but flat in the middle.

05:21AM EST - Mi 9 is a fully curved device

05:21AM EST - Quoting Gaudi

05:21AM EST - Certified by the Gaudi Academy of Knowledge

05:22AM EST - 173g

05:22AM EST - 7.61mm

05:22AM EST - 6.39-inch

05:23AM EST - AMOLED

05:23AM EST - Reading Mode to reduce blue

05:23AM EST - in-screen fingerprint

05:24AM EST - Triple camera

05:25AM EST - Shoot like a pro

05:25AM EST - Three cameras - top 12MP telephoto, 48MP Sony IMX586, 16MP ultra wide angle

05:25AM EST - Zoom in 2x optical

05:27AM EST - Photo examples

05:28AM EST - 1/2" CMOS sensor

05:29AM EST - f/1.75 aperture, laser autofocus

05:29AM EST - AI smart metering

05:30AM EST - night photography

05:30AM EST - 12MP telephoto lens

05:31AM EST - more photo demos

05:31AM EST - AI software will suggest different shots

05:32AM EST - Portrait Mode

05:32AM EST - Wide Portrait Mode

05:32AM EST - Also video

05:33AM EST - Xiaomi party tonight, apparently

05:33AM EST - Supports 4cm macro photography

05:34AM EST - >The ultimate test is PC components

05:34AM EST - Also, 960 fps video

05:34AM EST - looks like 720p or less

05:36AM EST - Working with DXO Mark

05:36AM EST - Overall score 108, Video 99, 111 Photo

05:36AM EST - 112

05:36AM EST - Top video score in the world

05:37AM EST - Now for photos on Mi 9

05:39AM EST - 20MP selfie camera

05:40AM EST - Snapdragon 855

05:41AM EST - Why oh why is Xiaomi showing AnTuTu scores

05:42AM EST - 3300 mAh battery

05:42AM EST - high performance wireless charging

05:43AM EST - 20W wireless charge

05:43AM EST - 100% charge in 90 minutes

05:43AM EST - TUV certified

05:44AM EST - Sold separately, 20W Qi compatible fast wireless charger

05:44AM EST - Now Price

05:45AM EST - 6+64 and 6+128 options

05:45AM EST - From 449 Euro for 6+64

05:46AM EST - 499 Euro for 6GB+128GB

05:46AM EST - half the price of the S10

05:46AM EST - Preorders in spain today, available autorized stores and online soon

05:46AM EST - Italy and France pre-orders today too

05:47AM EST - One more product

05:47AM EST - Mi LED Smart Bulb

05:47AM EST - 16m colors

05:47AM EST - Supports Google Assistant and Alexa

05:48AM EST - Control through Mi Home app

05:48AM EST - Lasts up to 11 years

05:49AM EST - Price

05:49AM EST - 19.9 Euro

05:49AM EST - White and Color

05:50AM EST - Philips White Smart bulb for 9.9 Euro

05:50AM EST - partner with Xiaomi

05:50AM EST - Looks like that's a wrap. We'll see if there's a hands-on area.