2016 is shaping up to be a great year for smartphones — and the Xioami Mi 5 is an embodiment of many of the best trends. Like Samsung’s Galaxy S7, the Mi 5 is a handsome mix of the latest specs and Android software, and it checks off most of the requisite boxes for a premium mobile device: beautiful display, fast fingerprint sensor, large battery, and the latest LTE modem. But unlike traditional flagships, Xiaomi’s new premier smartphone doesn’t cost upwards of $600.
Until recently, we had thought Xiaomi was releasing only the Mi 5S but then the Mi 5S Plus emerged out of the blues.
Competition across the smartphone tiers is red hot in India and this has seen a couple of high-end manufacturers cut their prices this week. Samsung kicked off the price war with drops for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge, ahead of the Note 7’s launch in the country. This was quickly followed by Xiaomi slashing a chunk off the cost of its Mi 5 flagship.
Xiaomi didn’t announce the successor to the popular Xiaomi Mi4 last year. This meant that the new flagship smartphone that the company announced in 2016 had to be perfect, satisfying...
