Xiaomi Mi 5 pre-orders begin: Snapdragon 820 smartphone with mid-range pricing

The Xiaomi Mi 5 offers another glaring example of how a number of Chinese OEMs are shaking up the smartphone industry. Packing features such as the Snapdragon 820 SoC, 3 or 4 gigs of RAM and a full-HD, 1920 x 1080 display, the firm is selling its latest powerhouse for the equivalent of just over $300 in China. Though it isn't slated for release in the United States any time soon, you can now pre-order the handset online, though you'll be paying considerably more than the Chinese market.

Announced at Mobile World Congress, the Xiaomi Mi 5 appears well crafted on the outside and in. Along with the aforementioned processing power, the Mi 5 includes 32 / 64 / 128 GB of storage, a fingerprint scanner, 16-megapixel main camera and 4-megapixel snapper on the front. The device, clad in a metal and glass combination that should appeal to fans of slick design, also runs the latest Android 6 Marshmallow out of the box. Even at a starting price of $440, which is the pre-sale price over at GearBest, the Xiaomi Mi 5 looks a sweet deal.

After the well-documented controversies of last year's Snapdragon 810, Qualcomm's premier mobile chipset line appears now to be back on track. Most of the recent big guns are powered by the Snapdragon 820, with plenty more upcoming devices set to do likewise. You'd be hard pressed, however, to find a $300 smartphone from a recognized vendor packing such raw power, and even though the chip of the lower-priced Mi 5 variant is apparently underclocked, it's hard to discredit Xiaomi's latest flagship given the cost.

There are actually three different versions of the Mi 5. The Standard version offers 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage for the equivalent of $306 in China, while the High version ($352) packs 64 gigs of on-board real estate. The Ceramic Exclusive version is at the top of the tree, inclusive of 4 GB RAM and 128 GB for around $413. As you might have guessed, the higher-end version is also furnished with a ceramic body. Additionally, the clock speed of this model (and the High version) can reach 2.15 GHz, which goes some way to explaining how the Exclusive version recently mustered a whopping 179,566 score on AnTuTu.

Because of import fees, shipping, taxes and whatnot, you're looking at an outlay of $440 just for the Standard model, with prices creeping up to $470 and $535 for the High and Exclusive models respectively. Still, you get a helluva lot of bang for your buck, and if you're interested in snapping up the Xiaomi Mi 5 from GearBest, you can do so by hitting the source link.


source: GearBest via AndroidGuys