Xiaomi MI 3
Xiaomi is tipped to officially set foot in India this week; new smartphones launch is also expected.Xiaomi India Facebook page

Chinese consumer electronics giant Xiaomi is reportedly launching a new generation flagship Mi series smartphone later this month.

Xiaomi CEO Bin Lei Jun posted a teaser image, with a big numerical '4' covering the whole canvas, hinting at a new smartphone. It is most probably the fourth generation Mi-series smartphone, which might get unveiled on 22 July - the company's annual product launch event.

The company Facebook post's tag line - We will tell the story about "The journey of a piece of steel metal" - indirectly signals that the new Mi series smartphone may come with rust-resistant iron alloy body; a huge upgrade over its predecessor (Mi3) which had magnesium alloy body (with three layers of thermal graphite film).

As of now, there is no official word on the other features of Mi 4 but if rumors are to believed, Xiaomi's upcoming phone is expected to feature a big 5.5-inch full HD screen, Snapdragon 801 series chipset, 2GB RAM and Android v4.4 KitKat (with custom MIUI ) OS, reported AndroidOS.in.

Earlier this week, Xiaomi forayed into the Indian smartphone market with the launch of Mi 3. Priced just under ₹15,000, the new Xiaomi Mi 3 is the cheapest full HD (1920x1080p) smartphone in the market. But that's not all. This feature-rich handset also boasts a magnesium alloy body with three layers of thermal graphite film, and under the hood it comes packed with the Qualcomm's superfast beast, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 series quad-core processor with Adreno 330 graphics engine and 2GB RAM.

Xiaomi comes with a reputation of being China's answer to Apple Inc. Its market share in the neighboring country has raised to 10 percent( courtesy PC World) within 2 years of entering the business, thanks to charasmatic founder & current CEO Lei Jun.

The company's unprecedented success is attributed to Xiaomi's strategy of incorporating high-end specifications and selling them for dirt-cheap prices. Having tasted success in China, the company has set eyes on the global market and has already poached Google's Android division, vice-president and product spokesman, Hugo Barra in 2013.

Xiaomi has even roped in Manu Kumar Jain, Jabong (online retail-shop), co-founder to head the Indian division. The company has promised to launch more feature-rich devices in India in the coming days.