It is now official: the Xiaomi Mi 5, which loyal fans have been clamoring for, will arrive this February. It will bring with it Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 under the hood.
Alleged details regarding Xiaomi’s next big thing have been dominating tons of headlines in the past. After spending a long time in the kitchen, Xiaomi’s co-founder and vice president Liwan Jiang pushed out the magic words via his personal Weibo account.
“The Xiaomi Mi 5 with the latest Snapdragon processor is ready and in volume production,” says Jiang. “It will be released after the Spring Festival to have enough time for stocking up.”
The Spring Festival Jiang is referring to is also China’s Lunar New Year. This signifies it will be launched sometime in early February, possibly on Feb. 8.
Early last month, the upcoming Xiaomi phone was spotted on retailer Oppomart’s website, which showed off its full specs. While the link to the leaked specs has been removed, a few websites managed to grab a screenshot. In case you haven't heard yet about what the Mi 5 is going to offer, here is a quick recap of what fans could expect when it arrives.
In terms of its display, the phone is believed to rock a 5.5-inch screen with 2,560 x 1,440 resolution. Other rumors claim the phone will feature an IPS LCD. Color-wise, buyers will pick from two color options: Classic Black and White. However, another rumor has also cropped up online saying that the phone will be available in four colors: Black, Gold, White and Pink.
The leaked info indicated that the phone will be powered by Snapdragon 820. Buyers will be given three onboard memory options, including 128 GB, 64 GB and 16 GB. The phone is also expected to pack in a whopping 3,800 mAh battery.
What is not clear, though, is if the Mi 5 will feature a MIUI 7 or MIUI 6 user interface. While it was listed in the leaked webpage that it is going to feature MIUI 6, it is believed that it is just a typo error. Instead, it will boast MIUI 7 based on Google’s Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system.
It would be interesting to see all these specs and features when the Mi 5 arrives next month. At any rate, this new Xiaomi phone is likely to sweep up the market at a reasonable price of $599. Indeed, the Chinese smartphone maker is proving that it's the new kid on the block to watch out for.
