Xiaomi Mi 5 India Launch Set for Thursday

Xiaomi has confirmed that the Mi 5 flagship smartphone will be launched in India on Thursday. The Chinese company at the Redmi Note 3 India launch earlier this month had promised that the Xiaomi Mi 5 smartphone will be "coming to India in a month" - and it certainly appears to have kept its promise.

To recall, Xiaomi's Global VP, Hugo Barra, during the event had stressed that the team in India was trying to get the handset here "in a month" without specifying an exact date. The company had first launched the Mi 5 smartphone in Beijing last month.

(Also see: Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 4)

With the unveiling of the Xiaomi Mi 5 on Thursday, India will become one of the first markets to sell the flagship outside China. Barra had recently revealed that the company received a massive 16 million registrations for the Mi 5, which went on sale in China.

To recall, the Xiaomi Mi 5 was announced in three versions - standard edition featuring 3GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage priced at CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs. 21,000); prime version featuring 3GB LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB storage priced at CNY 2,299 (approximately Rs. 24,000), and pro version featuring 4GB LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB storage priced at CNY 2,699 (approximately Rs. 28,000). It is not clear if Xiaomi will launch all three variants in India.

(Also see: Xiaomi Mi 5 Top 5 Features: 3D Ceramic Body, Fingerprint Scanner, and More)

The dual-SIM (Nano + Nano) Xiaomi Mi 5 features a 5.15-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) with curved 3D Ceramic glass, and a pixel density of 428ppi. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor coupled with Adreno 530 GPU. It sports a 16-megapixel Sony IMX298 camera sensor with PDAF (phase detection autofocus) and LED flash. The rear camera also sports 4-axis OIS (optical image stabilisation) and sapphire glass protection lens. The smartphone supports 4K video recording. It also sports a 4-Ultrapixel front camera, with 2-micron pixels. Both cameras feature an f/2.0 aperture.

It measures 144.5x69.2x7.25mm and weighs 129 grams. The Mi 5 packs a 3000mAh battery and supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. The company says that the Quick Charge 3.0 is 20 percent faster than its predecessor, the Quick Charge 2.0. Also onboard is a USB Type-C port. Connectivity options include VoLTE support, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/ac, 4G, Bluetooth 4.2, Glonass, and NFC.