Xiaomi Mi Note Pro release date set for 12 May costing half the price of an iPhone 6 Plus

Xiaomi, one of the world's fastest growing smartphone companies, has announced that its flagship model the Mi Note Pro will go on sale in China from 12 May costing less than half the price of the iPhone 6 Plus.

Available to pre-order from today (6 May), the high-end smartphone will go on sale on 12 May through the company's online Mi.com portal as well as through the company's dozen retail stores known as Mi Home.

The Mi Note Pro was announced back in January alongside the Mi Note, and it features cutting edge technology such as a large 5.7in screen with a sharp 2560 x 1440 pixel resolution and it is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 chip paired with a huge 4GB of RAM. It will come with 64GB of in-built storage as standard.

Despite the cutting edge specifications the phone will go on sale for CH ¥ 2999 (£317) in China, far less than the equivalent model of Apple's iPhone 6 Plus which retails for more than double the price, at CH ¥ 6888.

When the phone was initially launched in January the company had priced it at CH ¥ 3299.

Xiaomi's founder and CEO Lei Jun says: "Mi Note Pro is by far Xiaomi's most beautifully designed phone, using the most sophisticated technology and delivering an amazingly powerful performance."

Expansion

Xiaomi rose to international attention in 2014 after it briefly became the world's third biggest smartphone maker and began a larger expansion into the international markets, with particular focus on the Indian market.

Last month, the company held its first smartphone launch outside of China when Hugo Barra, the man recruited from Google to head up its international expansion, launched the Xiaomi Mi 4i.

The Chinese company is still entirely focused on Asia, but is planning to expand smartphone sales into Russia and Brazil in 2015 while it will bring its online Mi store to the US and Europe to sell accessories and connected devices - but not smartphones.