When Mobile World Congress begins next week in Barcelona, Spain, we'll finally get an official look at the next Xiaomi flagship smartphone.
At least that's for those of us who aren't in China. All we'll get is a look at it, at the very least, because for the most part, the Chinese company has kept away from U.S. shores. Its focus has been on mainland China and Southeast Asia where it sold over 70 million phones last year.
If anything, the closest the Chinese company has gotten to American shores is in selling its Mi line of accessories through its online store in the U.S. and by poaching Hugo Barra, a former Google vice president and product spokesperson for Android, to fill its VP slot of International.
Xiaomi's consumers in China will get a real, first-hand look and feel of Xiaomi's next generation flagship. Revealed over its blog, the company has indeed sent out invites to its Feb. 24 launch event to be held at the China National Convention Center.
There will be, however, a limited media preview of the device at MWC next week and that would mark a first for the Chinese company. That's the first part of all the hype surrounding the Mi 5 overseas. By coming out at MWC, even if it is just a limited media preview, it could be a sign that the device may finally be coming to other markets.
By launching a simultaneous debut of the Xiaomi Mi 5 outside of China, maybe Xiaomi is ready to finally spread its businesses to other countries, namely the United States.
Even if it did sell 70 million phones last year, that number still falls below expectations. Sooner or later, Xiaomi's investors will be looking for an upside, and breaking into the U.S. market may just be it.
Beyond the Chinese company finally venturing out its business to the other side of the world, the device itself seems to be deserving of all the hype.
The Mi 5 is rumored to be one of the first devices to be powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 chipset. In addition, the device is also said to pack one of the first pressure-sensitive touchscreens that's not an Apple device. Xiaomi does run a forked version of Android so its software tweaks are also expected to be a standout feature of the Mi 5.
Finally, Hugo Barra himself has been touting and tweeting the Mi 5's supposed class-leading camera capabilities especially in HDR mode, describing its shots as "insanely AMAZING." By next week's end, we'll be seeing for ourselves if the device does indeed live up to all the hype so far.
