Xiaomi Mi 5 With Snapdragon 820 SoC, 16-Megapixel Camera Launched

Xiaomi at its Beijing event on Wednesday unveiled the much-anticipated Mi 5 smartphone, apart from revealing the Mi 4S.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 will be available in three versions - standard edition featuring 3GB LPDD4 RAM and 32GB inbuilt storage priced at CNY 1,999 (approximately Rs. 21,000); high version featuring 3GB LPDD4 RAM and 64GB storage priced at CNY 2,299 (approximately Rs. 24,000), and exclusive edition featuring 4GB LPDD4 RAM and 128GB storage priced at CNY 2,699 (approximately Rs. 28,000).

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

Same as the Xiaomi Mi 4S, the Mi 5 will also go on sale in China starting March 1. Unfortunately, the company has not detailed any availability details for markets outside China. It comes in Black, White, Gold and Rose colours. Xiaomi, as touted previously, is pushing its Mi 5 as the first phone featuring Snapdragon 820 processor hitting the market.

(Also see: Xiaomi Mi 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S7 vs LG G5 Size, Specs, Camera)

The company at the launch compared its Mi 5 against the likes of iPhone 6s and claimed that the new flagship was 14 grams lighter than the 5.5-inch iPhone 6s. The company went on to tout the flat rear camera sensor on the Mi 5 and compared it to camera bump seen on some high-end smartphones such as Samsung Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s. At launch, Xiaomi also detailed the manufacturing processes through which Mi 5 passes on. One of the biggest additions in Xiaomi's latest flagship is fingerprint scanner. The smartphone, as rumoured for weeks, sports a physical home button right below the screen.

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.