Just like the leaks predicted, Xiaomi has released their new, updated flagship, the Mi 5s today. The new flagship sports slightly updated internals and externals over the original model announced earlier this year, most notable of which is an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner.
Xiaomi Mi 5s
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor
- Adreno 530 GPU
- 5.15-inch IPS display with force touch, 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 3GB/4GB RAM
- 64GB/128GB of internal storage
- 12-megapixel Sony IMX378 rear camera w/ dual-tone LED flash
- 4-megapixel front-facing camera
- Dual SIM
- 3G, LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS, Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C connector
- 3200mAh battery, Quick Charge 3.0
What sets the new fingerprint scanner apart from the offerings of other companies is that it’s hidden away under a pane of glass. Xiaomi claims that this fingerprint solution is faster than its competitors, and while it was completely unnecessary, Xiaomi still made a small indent on the front of the device below the screen to guide fingers in.
Like we said earlier Xiaomi has tweaked both the outside and inside of the new phone to differentiate it from the model released earlier this year. The back of the phone is now metal, as opposed to glass. The processor is Qualcomm’s speedy Snapdragon 821 chipset, paired with up to 4GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.0 storage.
The display is simply a 5.15-inch full HD panel (hooray for odd screen sizes), capable of up to 600 nits of brightness. The phone’s display is capable of display 95 percent of the NTSC gamut, and for the first time ever for Xiaomi, the screen is force-sensitive – expect the new iteration of MIUI to take advantage of that little feature in the future.
The camera has been overhauled as well, and the new phone now uses a Sony IMX379 CMOS that has a 1/2.3-inch sensor, pushing 12-megapixels. Xiaomi has been following the lead of Google and Samsung in this regard, and though the primary camera has a smaller megapixel size compared to previous iterations, it has a way bigger 1.55um pixel size that collects more light, which in turn should result in better photos. The camera also has a f/2.0 aperture lens along with a dual-tone LED flash, PDAF, HDR and 4K recording of up to 30FPS. The front camera is a 4-megapixel selfie camera, with the same f/2.0 aperture lens.
In China you’ll be able to pick up the Mi 5s for just RMB 1999 (around 14.5K) for the 3GB/64GB variant, while the more expensive 4GB/128GB variant will be RMB 2,299 (around 16.6K).
