Xiaomi is now rumoured to launch its budget smartphone, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 in global markets in February. A new report says that the Redmi 5 will go global in the second half of February with LTE Band 20. For the unaware, the Redmi 5 launched in China arrived with FDD LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8. However, it is unknown which markets will get the smartphone first, but India being the primary market for the Chinese company, we may see it landing first in India itself.
To recall, Xiaomi launched the affordable 18:9 display smartphones, the Redmi 5 and the Redmi 5 Plus in China last month. Both the devices received a great reception from both media and consumers alike. But the company did not revealed its plans for making both the phones global though. In fact, rumours pointed out that the Redmi 5 Plus has replaced the Redmi Note 5 this year, which seems to be unbelievable at the moment because the Redmi Note 4 is the best selling smartphone in many countries.
But as per the leakster Roland Quandt, the Redmi 5 will launch globally in February, but sadly, he did not reveal any info about the Redmi 5 Plus though. A new leak recently pointed out that Xiaomi will launch the Redmi Note 5 in Q2 2018 with Snapdragon 632 SoC. If that's believed to be true, then Xiaomi will bring the Redmi 5 Plus to the Indian market, replacing the Redmi Note 4 because the former has the same hardware as the latter, sans the 18:9 display on the front.
Nevertheless, irrespective of when they arrive, they will be priced aggressively, much ahead of competitors such as Honor and Tenor.
Talking about the specifications of the Xiaomi Redmi 5, the smartphone flaunts a 5.7-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 1440 x 720 pixels and 450nits of brightness levels. The device is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC, coupled with 2GB/3GB of RAM and 16GB/32GB of internal storage. Sadly, Xiaomi decreased the battery capacity of this device to 3300mAh, but the Snapdragon 450 chip is a power efficient chipset and makes up for the lost 800mAh battery compared to the Xiaomi Redmi 4.
A 12MP f/2.2 rear camera is present on the Redmi 5, which is claimed to offer better performance. Up front, we get a 5MP sensor for selfies and video calls. The Redmi 5 offers dual-SIM slot and even comes with a dedicated microSD card slot, again something Indian consumers loves to see on a smartphone. The fingerprint scanner is present at the back of the phone, and the device boots Android Nougat based MIUI 9 out of the box.
Talking about the pricing, the Redmi 5 may be launched at the same Rs 6,999 for the 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, but looking at the internals- Snapdragon 450 SoC, Xiaomi may increase the price to Rs 7,999 or even more than that is a possibility.
