Xiaomi working on Mi 5 successor, Mi5s: Report
Another variant of Xiaomi's Mi 5 smartphone is said to be in the works. According to reports, the Chinese smartphone maker is working on successor of its flagship phone Xiaomi Mi 5.
Likely to be called Mi5s, the smartphone is expected to launch in the second-half of this year and will sport a pressure-sensitive display offering functionality similar to Apple's 3D Touch.
Other rumored specs of the device include Qualcomm's ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, 6GB of RAM and dual camera. The smartphone is speculated to come with the same 5.15-inch 1080p touchscreen as its predecessor.
Xiaomi Mi 5 launched in India in March this year at a price tag of Rs 24,999. The company recently launched a Black colour version of the phone.
Xiaomi in a Facebook post also said that the Xiaomi Mi 5 Gold colour variant will also be made available in India "soon", though the company didn't specify when.
Xiaomi Mi 5 has a 5.15-inch screen that is 30% brighter. The smartphone is powered by the Android Lollipop-based MIUI 7 custom software; there was no official word on the Android Marshmallow update for Mi 5 at the event. Xiaomi is using UFS flash memory in the new model, which is 87% faster in read-write operations.
The smartphone's 16MP rear camera has 4-axis optical image stabilization for blur-free photo & videos as well as sapphire glass lens and two-tone, dual-LED flash; it can capture 4K as well as 120fps slo-mo videos. The front camera has 5MP resolution and pixel size of 2 micron.
For connectivity, Xiaomi Mi 5 supports 4G+ (also called LTE-Advanced) networks for faster downloads (up to Cat12), NFC, and USB Type C. The battery capacity of the smartphone is 3,000mAh and features QuickCharge 3.0 technology that provides 4 hours of battery life on charge of 10 minutes.
Mi 5 is also the first smartphone in Xiaomi's portfolio with fingerprint sensor in front.
About Xiaomi:
Xiaomi Inc. is a privately owned electronics company headquartered in Beijing. It is the world's third largest smartphone maker in 2016. Xiaomi sold 70.8 million units of smartphones, greater than the population of most countries. Xiaomi designs, develops, and sells smartphones, mobile apps, and related consumer electronics.
Since the release of its first smartphone in August 2011, Xiaomi has gained market share in mainland China and expanded into developing a wider range of consumer electronics, including a smart home (IoT) device ecosystem.The company's founder and CEO is Lei Jun, China's 23rd richest person according to Forbes. The company sold over 60 million smartphones in 2014.
The company has over 8,000 employees, mainly in mainland China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, and is expanding to other countries such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Brazil.
According to IDC, in October 2014 Xiaomi was the third largest smartphone maker in the world, following Samsung and Apple Inc., and followed by Lenovo and LG. Xiaomi became the largest smartphone vendor in China in 2014, having overtaken Samsung, according to an IDC reporter.
For a quick review of mi5, watch the following video:
