China's Xiaomi is entering the European TV market, starting with Russia and Spain. The Android-based Mi TV 4 will be available in 32, 43, and 55-inch sizes.

Xiaomi Android TVs
Like OnePlus and Huawei, Xiaomi is entering the European TV market. A few months ago, the company entered the European part of Russia (update: and Germany) and it has now announced that its Mi TV 4 series will available in Spain next month.

- "Xiaomi today announced Mi TV 4 series in Spain, which marks the company’s entry into the TV industry in the market. With 3 variants – Mi TV 4S 55”, Mi TV 4S 43”, and  Mi TV 4A 32”, Xiaomi aims to bring a true smart TV experience to everyone with amazing quality at an honest price. Offering sleek design with powerful hardware, incredibly user-friendly interface, along with the introduction of a vast library of multimedia content, the new series acts as a smart living hub and raises the bar in the local TV industry," announced Xiaomi.

The company has yet to comment on its plans for other European countries.

Xiaomi's TVs are very popular in its home country of China but the European version will differ in one key area. In China, Xiaomi is using custom mobile Android software adapted to the big screen, whereas in Europe it will be using 'Android TV', which is Google's official TV operating system.



Off-the-shelf components
The Mi TV 4 will come with Android TV version 9.0 pre-installed and will have access to apps and games from the Google Play store. It will also feature built-in Chromecast and Google Assistant. There is a dedicated voice button on the remote control.

The new TVs from Xiaomi use off-the-shelf components and are very similar to other Android TVs on the market. This includes a 4K LCD panel (32-inch has HD resolution), a MediaTek SoC, 8GB of storage, HDMI inputs, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The TVs technically support HDR but lack the display hardware to make HDR images possible.



Can Xiaomi challenge more established TV makers from South Korea and Japan? At launch, there is little to differentiate its products from competitors' TVs but the company's buying events where it offers steep discounts may tempt consumers.

The 32-inch Mi TV 4A, 43-inch Mi TV 4S, and 55-inch Mi TV 4S are priced at €179, €349, and €449, respectively. They will be available in Spain from mi.com, Mi stores, Mediamarkt and PC Componentes starting December 2.