What do you mean by "standard version with a 48-month lag-free performance"? Will the phone be deliberately throttled by manufacturer after 48 monthes?
Stan Most likely, this means Xiaomi intends to somehow make sure that software updates do not visibly hurt performance. Since this is a highly questionable claim - after all, Google makes Android feature updates, not Xiaomi, or Samsung, or anybody else - we ended up removing this sentence.
There are other factors involved, too, like battery health, as pointed out by a team member during a brief internal discussion.
Sergey, thanks for the follow-up.