Xiaomi has officially unveiled two new variants of its smart TV box. The latest Mi Box 3S and 3C are very affordable gadgets and can turn your ordinary television into a smart TV. Both the newly launched devices come with quad-core processors, AI (Artificial Intelligence), out of the box 4K support. The Mi Box 3S features a price tag of 299 Yuan ($43.50 USD or Rs. 2,949 INR approx.), while the Mi Box 3C is almost 30 percent cheaper and costs just 199 Yuan ($29 USD or Rs. 1,969 INR approx.).
The newly launched Mi Boxes are powered by Xiaomi’s proprietary AI-based PatchWall interface. These are some of the very first smart TV gizmos to come with AI support. Speaking of the exterior, the Mi Box 3S and 3C are pretty similar to each other. They both sport Xiaomi’s trademark simple design language with a prominent company logo. Coming to the internals, the Mi Box 3S is much superior to the Mi Box 3C. Still feature-wise, they do not differ very much, and the latter boasts almost every basic requirement for practical purpose.
Xiaomi Mi Box 3S Specifications
The Mi Box 3S is the high-end variant among the two. It sports 2 GB of DDR3 RAM along with 8 GB of eMMC 5.1 onboard storage. The 64 bit Amlogic S905X processor powers up the device. This is a quad-core processor with four ARM Cortex A53 CPUs clocked at 2.0 GHz each. The newly launched smart TV gadget supports 4K videos at up to 60 fps along with HDR (High Dynamic Range). It can fully decode the advanced H.265 codec. The Mi Box 3S supports Dolby DTS sound system. Xiaomi bundles an innovative MiTouch remote along with the new device. A notable upgrade in this is the brand new HDMI 2.0a support.
Xiaomi Mi Box 3C Specifications
The Mi Box 3C is a trimmed down version of the Mi Box 3S. It features the Amlogic S905 SoC with quad-core ARM Cortex A53 CPUs running at 2.0 GHz each. There is only 1 GB of DDR3 RAM combined with 4 GB of eMMC 5.0 inbuilt memory. The Mi Box 3C supports 4K videos at 60 fps but unfortunately isn’t compatible with HDR technology. Just like its sibling, it too can decode the H.265 codec. Dolby DTS audio support is also present. Sadly, it does not come with the newer MiTouch remote. The latest HDMI 2.0a compatibility is absent too, and it only supports the traditional HDMI 2.0.
Both the Mi Box 3S and 3C comes with a USB 2.0 input, one AV port, and an HDMI output. They both rock dual-band 802.11ac (2.4 GHz + 5.0 GHz) Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v4.1 connectivity.
Xiaomi Mi Box 3S and 3C Availability and Pricing
The Xiaomi Mi Box 3S and 3C will be officially sold starting from November 22, 2016. As of now, they will be exclusively available only in China, and a global launch is expected later. The Mi Box 3S is priced at 299 Yuan ($43.50 USD or Rs. 2,949 INR approx.), and the cheaper Mi Box 3C costs 199 Yuan ($29 USD or Rs. 1,969 INR approx.). At this price points, these are no doubts some excellent offering.
