Xiaomi today announced two new phones to their lineup based on the popular Mi 5: the Mi 5s and 5s Plus. These handsets pack high-quality flagship specifications, however cost under $400 each.
Starting with the Mi 5s, this handset packs a 5.15-inch 1080p IPS LCD display, the recently announced Snapdragon 821 quad-core chipset paired with an Adreno 530 GPU, 3GB of RAM and 64GB of storage or 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (the latter comes with a 3D Touch-enabled display), a 3200mAh battery with a USB-C port for charging, and Android Marshmallow with Xiaomi’s MIUI skin on top. Camera wise, the company has packed in a 12MP Sony 1/2.3-inch CMOS camera with a f/2.0 aperture, dual-tone LED flash, 4K video support at 60fps, and phase detection autofocus. On the front, there’s a 4MP camera with an f/2.0 aperture and 1080p video recording for all those selfies and Snaps.
Regarding the Mi 5s Plus, it’s a similar story, except the screen size is increased to 5.7 inches, storage and RAM options are increased to 64GB/4GB and 128GB/6GB respectively, and the battery capacity is now 3800mAh. For the cameras, the company chose a dual-sensor setup with both being 12MP sensors. However, unlike many smartphones with two cameras on the back, Xiamoi built in one color lens and one black-and-white lens. This is a rather interesting move as most dual-camera setups feature a wide-angle and telephoto lens, but I guess Xiaomi’s gonna do what they want anyway.
For security, found in both the standard Mi 5s and the upgraded Plus model are embedded fingerprint readers, and I say embedded because the sensors are actually underneath the glass of the phones rather having them stick out of the handsets like many fingerprint readers tend to do. This technology has just made its way to the market this year, so it’s nice to see Xiaomi adopt it. To be more specific, an ultrasonic sensor is present on each device which brings high accuracy to the devices regarding fingerprint reading. You’ll also notice plenty of speed from the sensors as well.
All in all, these handsets make for a great package regardless of which one you buy. For now, the Mi 5s and 5s Plus will remain exclusives to China. It’s unclear when they’ll make their way to other markets, but we’ll let you know. Regarding the prices, the standard 5s is priced at just 2,299 yuan ($345) while the upgraded Plus variant costs 2,599 yuan ($390). Obviously, with phones including Snapdragon 821 chipsets and up to 6GB of RAM, these prices are really low which is basically a Chinese company specialty: make good phones at great prices. Preorders go live for both handsets on September 29th.
- SOURCE: Xiaomi (1), (2)
- VIA: 9to5Google, GSMArena (1), (2)
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