Xiaomi topples the iPhone 6 and 6+ with the new Edge Mi Note

It was only a small matter of time before some smartphone maker decided they could one-up Apple, before Apple one-up themselves with the yet-to-be-announced iPhone 6S.

Enter Xiaomi. The Chinese new Edge Mi Note Phablet was released today, offering dual-SIM support for around $370 USD.

In some respects it looks remarkably like the iPhone 6 Plus, although that protruding camera which some iPhone 6 customers feel particularly antsy about is most definitely recessed into this puppy. In fact, on pure resolution, it beats the 6 Plus' 8 Megapixel resolution by 4 megapixels (13 MP). It's also thinner and lighter than the 6 Plus.

It's display is no letdown either - a 1080p display should be fine for anyone, however for those crazy on stats, the Mi Note Pro is being released around March and will sport a QuadHD display and octa-core Snapdragon 810 CPU.

The currently available Mi Note has the Snapdragon 801, which is a quad core CPU. Both phones have around 3000 mAh battery with either 16 or 64GB internal memory, running the Android OS.

This is all very good and well and as slick and as technically proficient as these phones are, they will not be the last in a line of iPhone 6-beating phones.

The iPhone 6/6 Plus is now well regarded as the phone of the year 2014, regardless of what side of the Android/Apple fan camp you sit on.

The reality though of all this wizardry is that all of these phones are highly unlikely to ever reach out of the Asian market, far less New Zealand's shores. What they do offer is a keen glimpse on what you might find in future versions of phones from manufacturers like Samsung, HTC and Apple.

So for right now, the Mi Note and its bigger, yet to be released brother, is now the most powerful smartphone on the market. Who's next?