China-based smartphone maker Xiaomi has officially unveiled its new flagship phone, the first to be made available in the U.S. and other western markets.
As expected, Xiaomi lifted the lid on the latest device in its Mi series at Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where previous Googler and current global VP for Xiaomi Hugo Barra gave the first glimpse of the Mi5 phone.
Barra was quick to tout the device’s speed, backed by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor, 4GM of RAM, and 128GB of on-board flash storage. The gains to be had from the 820 processor should be significant with faster processing and less power consumption, and mirrors the move by Samsung earlier this week when it confirmed Snapdragon 820 for its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge flagships. Qualcomm was actually co-sponsoring Xiaomi’s launch event, and it was obvious — the keynote kicked off with 10 minutes dedicated to discussing the new processor.
Available in black, white, and gold, the Mi5 has a 3D ceramic back, and is the first Xiaomi device to feature a front fingerprint sensor (as opposed to on the back) and a physical home button. It also has a USB-type C charging port, similar to the Mi 4c.
Above: Mi5 with Hugo Barra
Xiaomi has emerged as one of the world’s largest smartphone manufacturers since the launch of its first mobile phone way back in 2011, though they’re only available in China and a handful of Asian countries. Though Xiaomi has often been accused of copying Apple’s products, the company sold 70 million smartphones to consumers in 2015, said Barra.
The Beijing-based company has long since branched out into other consumer products and services, including self-balancing scooters, fitness bands, tablets, routers, cloud storage, power banks, air purifiers, and more — several of these include separate startups that are backed financially by Xiaomi.
Though Xiaomi opened for business in the U.S. and Europe the previous year, its online store has hitherto been limited to accessories such as headphones and battery packs. So today’s launch is a milestone moment for the company as it launches
As we’ve written before, the U.S. and other western markets present a myriad of challenges and opportunities for Xiaomi, however, the first step in circumventing and capitalizing on these is diving straight in and letting consumers in these markets sample its smartphone smarts. And today it's done just that.
The Mi5 will sport MIUI, Xiaomi’s Android-based operating system. MIUI receives weekly software updates, and Barra said its users are usually among the first to get updates when an official Android update is rolled out.