After almost a year of leaked images and benchmarks, a solitary teaser by Xiaomi on its official Weibo account has raised hopes across the industry...again.
A solitary teaser image of a smartphone with ultra thin bezels has been posted by Xiaomi on its official account on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, raising hopes that the much-awaited and long overdue Mi 5 is finally on its way to fruition. The expected successor to the present flagship, the Mi 4, has been touted for launch since late last year, leading to almost an entire year of rumours and leaks, before the Mi 5 is launched. However, amidst all the optimism, it is safe to say that no further official details have been given out with the photograph, at least about the phone. The post spoke more about the Xiaomi Yeelight, and the device shown on the post has in no way confirmed the upcoming launch of the phone.
As of now, most rumours have touted the Mi 5 to run on Snapdragon 820 processor, along with Adreno 530 GPU, 4GB of RAM, a 5.3-inch QHD display with a resolution of 1440×2560 pixels, 16-megapixel rear camera, and a fingerprint scanner, putting it in league with all flagship smartphones of today. Additionally, if launched soon, the Xiaomi Mi 5 may get the bragging rights of being the first smartphone to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, which itself was unveiled less than a month ago, on November 13.
Previously, reports had stated that production and development of the Xiaomi Mi 5 is being delayed due to the delay in the launch of Snapdragon 820, and as a result, the company may have been considering MediaTek’s deca-core Helio X20 processor to power the flagship smartphone. That would have led to much discontentment among Indian fans, as Xiaomi does not have the right to sell a MediaTek-powered device in India, following its lawsuit battle against Ericsson, which it lost. Despite the long delay and the Mi 5 definitely overdue now, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun recently went ahead to state that the wait for the Mi 5 will be “worth it”, and that the device is “very, very good”. Known for making good devices and competitive pricing, Xiaomi’s primary rivals, OnePlus, has gone ahead and released two more devices to the market since the OnePlus One, which was a direct rival of the Xiaomi Mi 4.
While many might opine that Xiaomi has lost out on the smartphone impetus due to the extended delay, the company has since launched a number of other devices globally, notably the Mi Pad 2, a scooter, and upgrades to its smart home products. With the Mi 5 widely anticipated, Xiaomi will hope to continue its trend of flagship-class devices at mid-range pricing. As of now, however, the Mi 5 seems to be a phone that is a fair while into the future.
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