Xiaomi announced the Redmi 5 in China in December 2017. The Chinese phone maker initially offered the Redmi 5 in two variants, either with 2GB RAM and 16GB of storage, or 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage. Xiaomi quietly began shipping a third variation of the model, one with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, starting January 25. The Redmi 5 4GB version is already up for grabs from the company’s Chinese online store.
The new Redmi 5 variant starts at CNY 1,099, making it a bit pricier than the 2GB RAM and 3GB RAM models’ CNY 799 and CNY 899 asking prices, respectively. The device comes in same colour options - black, gold, and light blue.
As for the rest of the specifications, nothing has changed much. The Redmi 5 features a new edge-to-edge design sporting a 5.7-inch HD+ (1440×720) LCD display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 system-on-a-chip (SoC) featuring clusters of Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.8GHz, and an Adreno 506 GPU.
In terms of cameras, the Redmi 5 doesn’t fail to impress. There’s a 12MP rear camera with 1.25µm sensor, phase detection autofocus (PDAF) and LED flash. The front-facing camera has a 5MP sensor with LED flash that brightens up low-light selfies.
The Redmi 5 packs a 3,300mAh battery that Xiaomi claims can last up to two days on a single charge. The device runs on MIUI 9.1 based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat. Connectivity options include 3.5mm earphone jack, Bluetooth 4.2, a hybrid dual SIM/microSD slot, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, and a micro USB port.
The 4GB Xiaomi Redmi 5, however, is currently available in Chinese market only. It is not known whether the device will become available to Indian customers, but we believe that Xiaomi will launch the phone in India next month. Already, the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus were launched in Taiwan on January 25.
In related news, Xiaomi is planning to launch the Redmi Note 5 which is speculated to come with a similar design as Redmi 5 Plus offering a 5.99-inch FHD+ display. The smartphone will be powered by either of Snapdragon 630 or Snapdragon 636 SoC along with 3GB or 4GB RAM. A leak suggests the Redmi Note 5 will also become first Redmi phone with dual cameras, sporting 16MP+5MP rear sensors. The Redmi Note 5 is expected to be released as early as April 2018.
