We found the new Box X96 Lite on AliExpress, which surprises us with the inclusion of the new Allwinner H626 SoC. This new chip represents a significant leap forward from the Allwinner 618, as it now supports the AV1 codec, features ARM Cortex-A55 CPU cores, and has an ARM Mali-G310 GPU. According to the manufacturer, performance has increased by 39%, although, as always, we’ll have to see how it performs in real-world use.
At the heart of this box is the Allwinner H626 quad-core processor, clocked at 1.51 GHz, which integrates an ARM Mali-G310 iGPU—though we don’t yet have all the details on it. There is a single version available with 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage, which can be expanded using the included microSD card reader.
In terms of wireless connectivity, the X96 Lite includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The included ports are two USB 2.0 ports, one USB 3.0 port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, an SPDIF digital audio output, and an HDMI 2.1b video output with support for up to 4K@75 Hz resolution.
The system runs Android 14 and does NOT have DRM certificates to watch Netflix 4K and similar services like Prime Video and Disney in high quality. It’s an interesting box, but it falls far short of the Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen), which has similar features, a better update policy, and is available at an even lower price.
It includes a power adapter and a Bluetooth remote control with a microphone for issuing commands via Google Assistant and possibly an infrared sensor.
Availability and Best Price
- The new Box X96 Lite with an Allwinner H626 processor is available on AliExpress starting at around €50 with free shipping.
