Xiaomi Mi 5 with Snapdragon 820 SoC Confirmed to Launch on Feb 24

Update – Xiaomi has now made it official about the launch of its upcoming flagship device, Xiaomi Mi 5 powered by Snapdragon 820 SoC. The device will be launched at the Xiaomi’s annual spring conference on February 24th while more information regarding this will be unveiled on January 26th. The LeEco (formerly LeTV) is the first brand to announced the Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone called Le Max Pro at the CES 2016.

There are few rumors that the Xiaomi Mi 5 will be the first Snapdragon 820 backed smartphone to go on sale despite the LeEco Le Max Pro is the first device to be announced. The mid-range Redmi Note 3  that was already launched in China is expected to make its entry in India in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days.

Earlier: Jan 14, 2016 – Last year Xiaomi launched many devices; Mi 4i, Mi 4c, Mi Note and Mi Note Pro, including a successor to its old line up Redmi Note 2 and Redmi 2 Prime, but we didn’t saw the flagship model, iteration to the Mi 4, the Mi 5. Although, it looks like the wait would be over early this year, as what seems to be the final retail model of the much-awaited flagship phone from the Chinese manufacturer.

Leaked in its full glare, the upcoming Mi 5 is listed on the online retailer website, GearBest. The listing showcases the detailed look at the device and it’s not as pretty as it was thought to be. Moreover, the design language seems to be going far away from what Xiaomi phones have shown past couple of year. I don’t know whether this is supposed to be some new approach, but it isn’t what was expected. Nonetheless, let’s talk about specifications.

According to the website, Xiaomi Mi 5 would be coming up with a 5.2-inch Quad HD display with the support of 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass 4. That’s the most powerful protection available in market right now and it’s quite similar to the Galaxy S6 lineup launched last year, while making a direct competitor to the upcoming Galaxy S7, which would not sport much changes.

Coming to the RAM and internal storage part, the Mi 5 is listed with a 4GB of RAM, and 16GB and 64GB internal storage variants, whereas the external storage support, is absent. What it means is that Xiaomi is carrying forward its new found love to internal storages in this flagship model too. Powered by a Snapdragon 820 (MSM8996), which is the latest processor from Qualcomm, which was announced with Le Max Pro last week at CES Expo in Las Vegas. It is listed as the Quad-core processor clocking at 1.8GHz.

It was treated as the first to come with SD 820 SoC, but if Xiaomi releases this handset as it is supposed to on January 21, then this might be the first handset to go on sale with Snapdragon 820 chipset. Essentially, it puts the device into a list of most powerful phones, most probably on top if all goes well in benchmark scores. Based on the latest version of the Android Lollipop 5.1, it would be running on the MIUI 7 version, which should see some improvement in features, but not visually.

In the camera department, it would be sporting a 16-megapixel 6-elements image sensor with LED Flash and an 8-megapixel image sensor with f/2.2 aperture on front. The specifics about these camera modules are unknown for now, whether company is using Sony Exmor Sensors or from other camera sensor manufacturers. There is a fingerprint sensor placed on the physical home button, and it totally reminisces the look of the Galaxy S6 lineup.

The connectivity options includes 4G LTE network support, probably on the both SIM as they are also capable of dual standby, note that both SIMs supported are micro SIM. Other usual connectivity options include NFC, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GLONASS + GPS, OTG and microUSB 2.0. All this is powered by a 3600mAh capacity battery, which should be more than enough to last the day. But it’s too early to say since SD 820 and 2K display would be hogging a lot of power.

Despite the full detailed listing leaked here, we can’t be sure whether it’s 100% genuine stuff here or not. So, take this with a pinch of salt until Xiaomi officially announces the much-awaited flagship handset. Meanwhile, it is listed for a hefty pricing of $625, which might be a hard sell for the company even with such high-end specifications.