Xiaomi Mi Note Pro promises unparalleled performance with Snapdragon 810 chip

Xiaomi has just announced a souped-up version of its flagship smartphone for 2015, with the Mi Note Pro featuring cutting edge hardware and promising unbeatable performance.

Announced at a media event in Beijing, the Mi Note Pro is the same size as the Mi Note, but includes a more powerful processor, more RAM, and a higher resolution screen. It will also cost significantly more, and at 3,299RMB (£350) it is the most expensive Xiaomi smartphone ever.

The Mi Note Pro will come with a 2K (2560 x 1440) 5.7in display giving it a huge pixel density of 515 pixels per inch (ppi). The iPhone 6 Plus for comparison has a pixel density of 401ppi.

While the Mi Note is set to be available in the second quarter of 2015, Xiaomi has not announced availability for the Mi Note Pro yet.

The Mi Note Pro is the second smartphone to be announced with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 810 64-bit chip, following the launch of the LG G Flex 2 at CES 2015 in Las Vegas. The powerful chip should provide significant performance improvements over the Snapdragon 801 chip featured in the regular Mi Note.

The phone also features CAT 9 LTE support, which means that theoretically at least it can support download speeds of 450Mbps.

The company is clearly aiming at the high-end of the market with the Pro version of its flagship, trying to capture the market which is currently buying the iPhone 6 Plus. However the price of the Mi Note Pro is still someway below the retail price of Apple's large smartphone which is slightly over 6,000RMB (£640).