Xiaomi rolls out its own definition of an iPhone killer, and the Xiaomi Mi 5s and Mi5s Plus can pose a challenge to Apple's flagship, as well as to more affordable rivals.
The company is no stranger to introducing bang for the buck smartphones, and the recently revealed handsets might reframe the definition of the affordable smartphone.
The two devices share the Xiaomi Mi 5s moniker, but are drastically different when it comes to technical specs.
Xiaomi Mi 5s
As earlier rumors touted, the Mi 5s relies on a new Snapdragon 821 processor for processing power, which is backed by 3 GB of LPDDR4 RAM. The standard storage room is 64 GB, but customers can opt to pay $45 more and get a more solid 4 GB of RAM paired with 128 GB of storage.
Keep in mind that the Mi 5s is the first instance when Xiaomi puts a force-sensitive touchscreen on its phones. The screen is a 5.15-inch able to display a resolution of 1080p, which comes in handy when watching the crisp photography results of the camera combo.
First, there is a 4-megapixels selfie-snapper packing an 80-degree wide lens. The icing on the cake comes from the main sensor, a 12-megapixel Sony IMX378 with lens fit for low light, at an aperture of f/2.0. The main camera is able to capture 4K video at 30 fps and 1080p videos at 120 fps.
The device has its juices flowing thanks to a 3,200 mAh battery and increased security via an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
The basic Mi 5s costs $300, while the 4GB of RAM/ 128GB of storage variant asks users to shell out $345.
Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
The bigger Xiaomi iPhone killer also holsters a Snapdragon 821 SoC, but it is clocked higher than the one on Mi 5s, at 2.35 GHz. The Mi 5s Plus comes in two flavors, as well: a 4 GB RAM/ 64 GB storage and 6 GB RAM/ 128 GB space, both of which rely on a hefty 3,800 mAh power source.
The bigger flagship killer from Xiaomi sports a screen of 5.7-inch, but without force sensitivity. The main camera is a 13-megapixel gifted with optical image stabilization, while the selfie cam of 4-megapixel borrows a leaf out of HTC's UltraPixel devices.
The 4 GB RAM variant sells for $345, with the beastly 6 GB of RAM model sits at $390.
Design
Both handsets are rocking aluminum unibody frames, with 2.5D glass covering the front.
Four color options are available for the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus: gold or dark grey for fans of brushed metal finish, and pink or silver for matte finish loyalists.
One notable difference is that the Mi 5s' fingerprint sensor sits on the front of the device, while the Mi 5s Plus carries the fingerprint scanner on the rear, in alignment with its two cameras.
Pre-orders are opening on Sept. 29 in China, with the manufacturer keeping mum on international availability.
