Xiaomi Is Preparing to Make a Comeback With Latest Marquee Phone

Xiaomi's trying to get back in the game. According to Bloomberg, the Chinese electronics maker unveiled a new flagship smartphone days after Samsung's Galaxy S8 hit stores, hoping to regain lost ground even as Apple prepares to introduce its most anticipated device in years.

Xiaomi took the wraps off the Mi 6 at a college gymnasium on the outskirts of Beijing. The phone sports flourishes now familiar to users of premium devices including the S8: curved glass, virtually non-existent bezels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor and 6 gigabytes of memory. It also features dual cameras on the back. In a nod to Apple 's latest iPhone, Xiaomi also dropped the headphone jack. The Mi6 goes on sale April 28 starting at 2,499 yuan ($363).

The company has moved away from its roots as an online purveyor of cheap devices since local rivals from Oppo to Huawei began to dominate the Chinese market with higher-end gadgets. Co-founder Lei Jun is going after his rivals not just with increasingly tricked-out phones, but also by adopting the nationwide store networks that super-charged the Oppo and Vivo brands. The company remains on track to open 1,000 stores within three years across China, and expects to chalk up 70 billion yuan of sales through that physical network in five years.