As if picking a fight with the Galaxy Note 4 and iPhone 6 Plus earlier today wasn't enough, China's top smartphone vendor also decided to bolster its set-top box lineup with a new pint-sized media streamer affectionately known as the Xiaomi Mi Box Mini.
Despite its small stature, the Mi Box Mini packs a sizable punch with its Cortex A7 quad-core 1.3GHz processor from MediaTek, Mali-450 GPU, 1GB of RAM and 4GB of onboard storage. The device runs Android and also includes dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and DTS 2.0 with Dolby Digital Plus.
The power supply is built-in so all you'd need to do is plug in the small brick and connect it to your television via included HDMI cable. Buyers will also get a wireless remote that communicates via Bluetooth.
Specifications aside, the Mi Box Mini is drawing attention for its small size - it's roughly the size of a smartphone charger and is a quarter the size of Xiaomi's existing full-size Mi Box. And with a price point of around $30, it could also be a serious threat to Google's Chromecast and other stick-style media streamers.
That is, if it ever shows up on US soil.
The company plans to start accepting pre-orders for the Mi Box Mini on January 20 in China and will begin shipping shortly after. Xiaomi hasn't said whether or not the streamer will be offered outside of its homeland.