Xiaomi has sent out a media invite for its first product launch of 2018 in India, dated for February 14. The invite shows the number 5, which hints at a ‘5’ series smartphone, however, rumours suggest that the company might reveal the Redmi 5 and is bigger variant, the Redmi 5 Plus and not the expected Redmi Note 5 at the event.
Xiaomi had launched its most successful smartphone, in terms of sales, the Redmi Note 4 in January last year. It was expected that the company will upgrade the smartphone around this time in 2018, however, as per a previous report, the company will be rebranding its Note series and unveil the Redmi Note 5 as the Redmi 5 and the Redmi 5 Plus.
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 was launched in 2GB and 3GB RAM variants priced at CNY 799 (Rs 7,800 approx) and CNY 899 (Rs 8,800 approx) respectively and the company recently launched a 4GB RAM model priced at CNY 1,099 (Rs 11,200 approx). The Redmi 5 Plus is priced at CNY 999 (Rs 9,700 approx) for the 3GB RAM/ 32GB ROM model, whereas its 4GB RAM/ 64GB ROM model’s costs CNY 1,299 (Rs 12,700 approx) in China. It is expected that the devices could be priced the same, if not lower, in India.
Coming to the specifications, both the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus feature an 18:9 display with HD+ resolution of 720x1440p and are dual SIM smartphones. The Redmi 5 sports a 5.7-inch display and is powered by a Snapdragon 450 Platform whereas the Redmi 5 Plus runs on a Snapdragon 625 SoC and comes with a 5.99-inch display.
In terms of camera, both the Redmi 5 and the Redmi 5 Plus sport a 12MP main camera and feature a 5MP front facing camera with a selfie flash. The devices claim of improving portrait mode images with the pre-loaded Beautify 3.0 app and the internal storage can also be expanded on both the smartphones via a microSD card. The Redmi 5 equips a 3300mAh battery, while the Redmi 5 Plus is backed by a 4000mAh battery. Both the smartphones run on MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1 Nougat.