Performance
The Xiaomi Mi 4i is no powerhouse and its specs shout mid-range all-around, but it packs a high-res 1080p display, which may be a bit too taxing on the GPU. The Mi 4i is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 SoC, which was created for the mid-range market. It consists of a total of eight Cortex A53 cores, four clocked at 1.7 GHz and the other four at 1.1 GHz. The GPU in charge of graphics is Adreno 405, which isn't very impressive, especially running at Full HD. Finally, there is 2GB of RAM.
Xiaomi pushed a major firmware update already, which should be fixing the widespread overheating issues. Indeed we tested the device before the update and it got so hot under CPU pressure that we became concerned for its well-being. The update tunes down the processor, when it reaches a temperature threshold and prevents the device for getting too hot. The Mi 4i still gets really warm, but now we are not afraid it will catch fire in our hands.
It seems the latest generation Snapdragon chips are plagued by overheating issues and the only solutions is CPU throttling. While the 8-core CPU seems like a great on paper, especially with the high core clocks in the Mi 4i, it can only be unleashed to show its full potential for very short time periods.
We ran GeekBench 3 CPU test before and after the firmware update and we found out a firm 15% drop in the score. The Mi 4i still does OK - it offers almost the same CPU performance as other Snapdragon 615 devices (Sony Xperia M4 Aqua, Oppo R1x, HTC Desire 820). Yet four Krait 400 within the Xiaomi Mi 4 (Snapdragon 801) still do better than those 8 Cortex-A53 cores in the Mi 4i.
GeekBench 3
Higher is better
- Lenovo Vibe X23647
- Xiaomi Mi 43175
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact2968
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)2880
- Oppo R52806
- HTC Desire 8202586
- Oppo R1x2507
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua2375
- Xiaomi Mi 4i2336
- Samsung Galaxy E71468
The compound AnTuTu puts the Xiaomi Mi 4i once again very closely to the rest of the Snapdragon 615 gang, though beating it by a hair.
AnTuTu 5
Higher is better
- Lenovo Vibe X246666
- Xiaomi Mi 4i34491
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua32217
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)31436
- Oppo R531417
- Oppo R1x30187
- HTC Desire 82027070
- Samsung Galaxy E721562
Another compound benchmark we ran was the Basemark OS II. The Mi 4i did fine here, scoring the same as its chipset stablemates. The Sony M4 Aqua did slightly better, but it has the advantage of lower-res display.
Basemark OS II
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 41324
- Lenovo Vibe X2930
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua883
- Xiaomi Mi 4i843
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)786
- Oppo R5772
- Oppo R1x745
- HTC Desire 820725
- Samsung Galaxy E7600
The Cortex-A53 per-core performance is similar to others available in this price range, beaten only by the faster Krait (Mi 4, Xperia Z1 Compact) and Cortex-A17 (Vibe X2). The multi-core score is rather disappointing for an 8-core processor though.
Basemark OS II (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 42573
- Lenovo Vibe X22571
- HTC Desire 8201812
- Oppo R1x1664
- Oppo R51657
- Xiaomi Mi 4i1651
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)1572
- Samsung Galaxy E71514
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua1453
Basemark OS II (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Lenovo Vibe X213999
- Oppo R510000
- Xiaomi Mi 49508
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)9284
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua8592
- HTC Desire 8208453
- Xiaomi Mi 4i7749
- Oppo R1x7508
- Samsung Galaxy E76172
GPU tests confirmed our suspicions - Adreno 405 is not cut out for high-end gaming on a 1080p screen. Here the Adreno 330 GPU performs twice as well. Look at the 1080p onscreen tests as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua has a 720p screen, while the Xiaomi Mi 4i needs to render at 1080p natively.
GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 427.6
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact22
- Lenovo Vibe X217.8
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Octa17.1
- Oppo R515.1
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)15
- HTC Desire 82015
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua14.9
- Xiaomi Mi 4i14
- Oppo R1x12
- Samsung Galaxy E75.3
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 411.6
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact9
- Xiaomi Mi 4i6.2
- Lenovo Vibe X26.1
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua5.84
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)5.8
- Oppo R55.8
- HTC Desire 8205.7
- Oppo R1x4.9
- Samsung Galaxy E71.8
GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact34
- Xiaomi Mi 428.2
- HTC Desire 82026
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua25.8
- Oppo R1x20
- Lenovo Vibe X217
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)15
- Oppo R514.8
- Xiaomi Mi 4i14
- Samsung Galaxy E79.6
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Sony Xperia Z1 Compact17
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua12.2
- HTC Desire 82012
- Xiaomi Mi 411.3
- Oppo R1x9.6
- Xiaomi Mi 4i6.2
- Lenovo Vibe X26.1
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)5.8
- Oppo R55.8
- Samsung Galaxy E73.9
The Basemark X GPU tests gauges only the offscreen performance, where the Adreno 405 in the Xiaomi Mi 4i isn't at disadvantage. The competitors are not doing much better here.
Basemark X
Higher is better
- Lenovo Vibe X26512
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua5105
- Xiaomi Mi 4i4875
- HTC Desire 8204859
- Oppo R54855
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)4802
- Oppo R1x4018
- Samsung Galaxy E71915
Moving on to web browsing tests, JavaScript performance is not spectacular, but it's OK.
Kraken 1.1
Lower is better
- Lenovo Vibe X24747
- Xiaomi Mi 46137
- Xiaomi Mi 4i11439
- Oppo R511656
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)12266
- Oppo R1x12826
- Samsung Galaxy E713462
- HTC Desire 82013568
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua13609
Still, general browsing the web is generally smooth and fast as BrowserMark 2.1 confirms. It puts the Mi 4i above a good number of quite powerful devices.
BrowserMark 2.1
Higher is better
- Lenovo Vibe X22211
- Samsung Galaxy A7 (S615)1655
- Xiaomi Mi 4i1396
- Samsung Galaxy E71344
- Oppo R51319
- Sony Xperia M4 Aqua1171
- HTC Desire 820991
- Xiaomi Mi 4744
- Oppo R1x627
The Mi 4i handles processor intensive apps well, though it does get rather warm. However for gaming we'd look for an alternative - the Adreno 405 is just not up to the 1080p task. The web browsing experience is solid, while the overall Android+MIUI experience is very smooth.
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