Lei Jun reckons the Xiaomi Mi 5 is 'worth waiting for'

After a spectacular Mi 3 launch which was followed up by the Mi 4, the media and consumer bunch expected something refined and powerful from Xiaomi. The company, in turn, seemed to be in a similar mood, which is perhaps why it turned down using the Snapdragon 810 (which as a bit if a history) on the Mi 5.

This meant that the Mi 5 wouldn’t see an H1 2015 launch, but would be delayed.

Now that we’re in the fag end of the year, it’s natural of people to again get talking about the Mi 5. At yesterday’s mega launch event, Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi Note 3, the Mi Pad 2 and the Air Purifier 2 — but no signs of the Mi 5.

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Company CEO Lei Jun was flocked by the Chinese media who weren’t shy of asking him about the Mi 5. While there were no concrete details on the matter, Jun ‘revealed’ that the phone was a device ‘worth waiting for’.

Besides that, Jun also reassured scribes that the future development cycle was going to shorten… perhaps in a bid to stay up to speed with Xiaomi’s competitors.

It’s a bit of an irony that the Redmi Note 2 has a successor in almost 3 months of its launch while there’s no Mi 5 even a year after the launch of the Mi 4. What do you think?

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Yash Garg
Yash is a blogger by profession, builder of things by passion and foodie by birth. You'll usually find him talking about technology, music, travel and the game of cricket on the streets of Pune when not busy writing or speeding his way through the country! Read more on retro handheld gaming on RETRO91
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Shinshin
November 25, 2015
What I think?!
Well, you must finish a product before publishing it. If the product doesn’t fulfill the vision of its creators then it must be delayed.
Young
November 25, 2015
They better come up with something better than Redmi note 3.
- balcobomber25
  November 25, 2015
  Redmi Note 3 is a good device. But considering the Mi is their flagship line i think it’s safe to say it will be better.

balcobomber25
November 25, 2015
What exactly is “the fag end of the year”? In America that is not a good term to use…
As for the Mi5 it’s clear they are waiting for the SD820. We haven’t seen any phones with this chip released yet.
- Steven Fox
  November 25, 2015
  Because SD810 was too risky to use and Xiaomi don`t want to use Exynos and X20 is not ready yet as well.
  My thoughts are that it will come with the X20 and not the SD820, there might be an SD820 update later on though.
  - balcobomber25
    November 25, 2015
    I would be shocked if they used a Mediatek SoC in their Mi flagship for a few reasons. 1. They are going to want to sell the Mi5 in India where they can’t sell Mediatek phones. 2. Qualcomm is an investor in Xiaomi and to date they have never used a Mediatek SoC in a “Mi” phone. They always have been used in the Redmi line.
    - Nicola
      November 25, 2015
      Hey, have a Samsung note 3,i want change it for meizu mx5 ,you think i lost something in terms of display or camera?
      - balcobomber25
        November 25, 2015
        The MX5 and Note 3 actually both use the same type of display, a Super AMOLED which is produced by Samsung, the only difference will be size. The Note 3 is slightly larger (5.7 to 5.5 inches). The camera is better on the MX5.
    - King
      November 25, 2015
      Love u balco for that …. Sell in India. Not fagging here. Brotherly love ??
    - Steven Fox
      November 26, 2015
      Yeah, but if the 820 is not ready in time, then what? Meizu already owns them with the MX5 Pro and now Huawei’s Mate 8 has launched, that kind of leaves Xiaomi high end users with nothing to buy.
      - balcobomber25
        November 26, 2015
        I think they have already shown they are willing to wait for the SD820 to be ready. Qualcomm has already started teasing the features of it, which they usually do right before it’s ready to be shipped to OEM’s for manufacture. Xiaomi has built up such a fanbase that they can afford to wait and still sell millions more than Meizu will with the Pro 5. Xiaomi is one of the few brands from China that has gained that Apple/Samsung following where all is forgotten when they release a phone.
- MaxPower
  November 25, 2015
  he meant the homosexual end of the year.
  😀
  agree with you about the SD820.
  the only reason why it’s taking this long.
  besides that, i have a feeling that the MI5 will come packed with many other good things (on-screen fingerprint scanner? edge display a la Samsung?)
  i really hope we don’t have to wait longer than January/February though
  - balcobomber25
    November 25, 2015
    I knew they had their own parade, never knew about homosexual new years.
    The selfish part of me hopes it is delayed well into next year because I am still enjoying my MX5 lol.
  - Tajwar
    November 25, 2015
    Me too, really need a good phone early next. My mi3 is showing some aging sings.
    And someone should do a Mi4 vs OpoX I would be to interested to see the results.
    - MaxPower
      November 25, 2015
      - Tajwar
        November 25, 2015
        I know, but I want to weigh up both options: Pro5 and mi5(if ever). I might wait till February. Although I’m 70% on the Pro5 side because it’s a very balanced device.
- Yash Garg
  November 25, 2015
  Thesaurus:
  Noun. fag end – the time of the last part of something; “the fag end of this crisis-ridden century”; “the tail of the storm” 😉
  - balcobomber25
    November 25, 2015
  - Mesterio
    November 26, 2015
Rabab Noor
November 25, 2015
- Airyl
  November 26, 2015
  The Mi line has always used Snapdragon processors, so I don’t think that’ll happen.

Simon
November 25, 2015
Release kernel sources https://twitter.com/hbarra and https://twitter.com/Xiaomi then yes I can believe it will be worth the wait 🙂
- Bailey
  November 25, 2015
- Airyl
  November 26, 2015
  I’m confused. Hasn’t Xiaomi already released kernel sources for all their devices barring the Mi4C?

Angry Mobile Nerd
November 25, 2015
This year Xiaomi fails to launch a flagship and loses it’s #1 spot in China’s smartphone market. Lei Jun is so lucky, had Xiaomi been a publicly traded company he probably would have lost his job as CEO.
Every other manufacturer managed to launch a flagship so I really don’t buy the snapdragon 810 excuse especially considering they used it in their Note Pro which they’re *still* selling. Every business runs into challenges and set backs but they find still find solutions — they don’t just stop and wait especially in a market as competitive as the smartphone market. Could you imagine if next year Samsung didn’t launch the S7 or LG didn’t launch the G5? — it’d be corporate suicide.
- Airyl
  November 26, 2015
  Dude, you’re literally looking for reasons to undermine Xiaomi. Just leave them alone already and complain about other companies that deserve to be complained about.
  - balcobomber25
    November 26, 2015
    He is of the “xiaomi is the devil” crowd. It doesn’t matter what they did, he would have something to complain about.
    - Angry Mobile Nerd
      November 26, 2015
      I’m actually looking at things from a business perspective. It’s actually unprecedented what they did (didn’t launch flagship) and that could possibly be linked to the fall in market share which, in a public company, would usually result in some very senior people being fired or more professionally, being asked to tender their resignations. It’s not my fault it was Xiaomi did these things. I could blab on how they totally missed market trends (metal, finger print scanners, thin phones) which they finally just fulfilled with the Redmi Note 3. And I didn’t blab about how the Redmi Note 3 came out just months after they launch the Note 2 looking *a lot* like a Meizu metal which would suggest they’re not leading, they’re not evening following, but instead, they’re reacting which is a pretty crappy place to be in this industry. All these things point to management = Lei Jun.
      You two are like Xiaomi’s parents. After a day at school your Xiaomi company comes home with a really, really terrible crayon drawing but you two like proud parents still put it up on the refrigerator and tell Xiaomi they did a great job and pat them on the head. They can’t do any wrong in your eyes. I’m actually impressed by the new Redmi Note 3 btw. If I was somehow in the market for a sub 1000 RMB phone, that just might be what I would buy.
      If you feel like I’m holding them to a double standard then go ahead and find another me another big mobile phone company that this year 1) didn’t launch a flagship and 2) lost market share and 3) failed to follow market trends and I’ll write you an apology.
      - balcobomber25
        November 26, 2015
        Blah, Blah, Blah. Your comments on Xiaomi read the same everytime. It;s been like this since you joined this site.
      - Airyl
        November 26, 2015
        It’s not really that we uphold Xiaomi, it’s simply that you seem to hold some sort of intent dislike for Xiaomi no matter what they do. The last time I asked you “why do you dislike Xiaomi?”, you told me it was because they made budget devices, which somehow brought down their worth.
        
        Angry Mobile Nerd
        November 28, 2015
        Yes because when you decide to make budget anything your brand takes a hit. Xiaomi on their current track will never make their products more desirable than say, Samsung, who are known for their flagships and not their A or J-series phones. Xiaomi right now is more known for it’s Redmi phones than anything else.
        Great job on up-voting your own post btw.
        Airyl
        December 1, 2015
        That’s not even a legitimate reason to dislike something, that’s just a person inflating their own ego to the point they feel somehow superior to other people.
      - Airyl
        December 1, 2015
ton
November 26, 2015
Well i am from india!! U know which was the last phone released in india? The mi4i with the super hot 615chip…long time since a new phone!!
- ton
  November 26, 2015
  - balcobomber25
    November 26, 2015
    I think India is specifically why they are delaying the launch of the Mi5. They want to launch it in India, and they need a SD SoC for that. The 808 is the only SoC that is a possibility right now and they used that in the Mi4c and it’s not really 2016 flagship worthy (although its more than powerful for most people).
    - ARUN SUBRAMANIAN
      November 26, 2015
      let them for god sake use 820 and release the phone…let it be 1999-2499 yuan..if the camera is good,i am buying it..assuming other parameters like sound,gps are good for this flagship..god how long we have to wait for affordable flagship?…and i don’t have crazy money to spend on S6,Vivo or the craziest of all…Iphone6s
      - balcobomber25
        November 27, 2015
        It will be 1999 yuan, that’s the price every Mi numbered phone has been at launch.
        ton
        November 27, 2015
        They cud hav launched mi4c in india but they havent.!! They see people are buying mi4i since many in india dont know about mi4c..they are exploiting this advantage!!well as a huge fan of mi im thoroughly dissapointed!
- Dante
  November 27, 2015
- Airyl
  November 26, 2015
Dante
November 27, 2015

Lei Jun reckons the Xiaomi Mi 5 is ‘worth waiting for’ and that’s why you should wait

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