MIUI flag-bearer Xiaomi is to release a cut-price Youth Edition of its China-only MiOne "Xiaomi Phone." The Youth Edition features a 4-inch 480 x 854 display, 8-megapixel f/2.4 camera, 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 768MB of RAM, 1930mAh and 4GB of internal storage (expandable via microSD). Set to retail at 1,499 yuan (around $237), it's 25 percent cheaper than its elder sibling, which has a faster 1.5GHz processor along with 1GB of RAM.

The new edition will come with MIUI V4 (based on Android 4.0) pre-installed, but if it's anything like the original MiOne, you'll be free to put any Android build you want on it. Xiaomi has published some pretty impressive benchmark results — 5403 on AnTuTu, 1375 on Vellamo, and 3269 on Quadrant — which don't exactly set the world on fire, but do show that it's making good use of its less-powerful processor. There'll be an initial product run of 150,000 devices, and the pre-registration process ends on May 18th. Xiaomi sold over 300,000 MiOnes on pre-order alone, so with only half as many available this time round, we wouldn't be surprised to see the Youth Edition sell out soon.