Xiaomi Mi 5 won't have a 2K display, but a 1080p one!

Slowly but steadily, Xiaomi’s Mi 5 is turning into a something more than just a fabled phone. The device will come later this month, and while at it, it’ll have taken its own sweet time. It better be good, are the words echoing around the talks about the Mi 5.

Latest news from the Xiaomi stable is that the Mi 5 will not be a 2K phone but a 1080p one. This might seem surprising to some, but for those who’ve been following — or even using — Xiaomi’s Mi lineup, it’s totally what they’d have expected.

While the Mi Note and the Redmi Note series of phones takes care of large-screen phone lovers, the Mi series has always been about one-handed usage and practicality, minus the spec overload.

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This bit of news comes from Xiaomi’s senior VP, Liwan Jiang. ‘Black Screen Technology’ is another term Jiang mentioned, which is something the Mi 5’s screen will incorporate. Could it refer to an AMOLED panel? Time will tell.

What we know about the Xiaomi Mi 5 so far includes its launch date (24th February), SoC (Snapdragon 820), battery (3600mAh) and now, the screen resolution (1080p). That said, the resolution could be a bit of a giveaway about the screen size; our bet would be on a 5.2-inch panel. 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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- ARUN SUBRAMANIAN
  February 1, 2016
  if only there is a SD card support..even 64 gb support would do…that would be icing on cake.
  - balcobomber25
    February 2, 2016
    I wouldn’t count on it. Hugo Barra has said in the past he doesn’t believe in SD cards in flagship devices.
    - ARUN SUBRAMANIAN
      February 2, 2016
Klaus
February 1, 2016
Thank god that someone understand that 2K display for a small screen up to about 5,5″ is unnecessary!

Aeonia
February 1, 2016
Packing a snapdragon 820, that would make it very powerful not to mention a better battery life….
Kennedy
February 1, 2016
I only hope to China’s price to buy this phone, but it is almost impossible. Expect mi5 configuration.
- balcobomber25
  February 1, 2016
  Unless you are in a Xiaomi launch country you won’t find it for launch prices, but usually one or two resellers will have it for a markup of less than $50. Just have to search for deals.
  - MaxPower
    February 1, 2016
    I highly doubt it.
    At least not until April/May.
    I’ve just bought the Note3 Pro which is supposed to cost $180 in China and I paid $258 from the only reseller who has it in stock.
    In my opinion you won’t be able to get the MI5 for less than $420 for few months
    - balcobomber25
      February 1, 2016
      Depends on the launch price of the Mi5. I got my Mi4 a month after launch for about $380 when the Chinese price was around $330.
      - MaxPower
        February 2, 2016
        That’s exactly how much I paid mine, buy that was a year ago.
        I’ve seen and increment this year. I hope in wrong
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        Xiaomi becoming bigger and bigger each year means there is more of a premium attached to their phones than ever before. When we bought the Mi4 they were still relatively unheard of in the West. Now they are getting serious press time on all the major Android sites, instead of being just a foot note. But there will always be deals to be found, just have to search everyday. Some sites have sales that only last a day or a few hours.
        
        MaxPower
        February 2, 2016
        I’m curious to see how much they will price the MI5. I bought the Note3 pro which should be here by the end of the week.
        Hopefully I won’t regret :p
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        I have been saying it all along and until I see otherwise from Xiaomi, it will be 1999 yaun like every other Mi(#) phone has been. Every year we see reports that Xiaomi is raising the price, and every year they don’t. Today more than ever it would be a mistake for them with increased competition from Meizu, LeTV and Honor brands. The very most I could see is an increase to 2199 but it would still be around that $330 US mark.
        
        MaxPower
        February 2, 2016
        My bad, I should have explained better. I know they will likely price it at 1999 cny. I was still referring to resellers, I’m wondering how much they will price the MI5 this year.
        Last year MI4 was about $380 this year I’m guessing over $400
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        I think it depends on the reseller. SPEMall already has it listed for $399.
        http://www.spemall.com/XIAOMI-5-5-2-Inch-Qualcomm-Snapdragon-820-processor-4G-LTE-Smartphone-3GB-4GB-RAM_g.html?utm_campaign=kimovil_free_traffic&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=kimovil.com&utm_content=xiaomi-mi5-32gb
realjjj
February 1, 2016
Even 1440p flat is so 2 years ago.
1080p and 3GB of RAM,midrange all the way, they better price it at 1499CNY(229$),not that they will….
As or “black technology” that’s likely a Google Translate problem and it probably means innovation or a similar term.
- balcobomber25
  February 1, 2016
  It will be priced at 1999 like every other Mi(#) model and it will sell like crazy. The display technology maybe from 2013 but everything else is from 2016. A phone is a lot more than just a display.
  - realjjj
    February 1, 2016
    And it won’t offer much of anything besides the SoC.
    The screen and the SoC were the easiest areas to show advances, 1080p is what you get in 100$ phones too.
    And it won’t sell well if it’s what we expect it to be.Would be one of the worse devices with SD820 if all it has is 1080p flat and 3GB of RAM, no microSD , Dumbo looks with a home button at1999CNY. Will be a lot worse than the Mi4 was at it’s time and that one was nice just lacking character and it ended up not doing great.
    The comments here, Xiaomi gets a lot of such comments no matter what they do , just like Apple,but that’s spam from fanboys not representative for the general traffic.
    If they price it lower, it’s sellable , at 1999CNY, you are better off with a Note 3 Pro at half the price.
    The Redmi 3 will appeal on battery size but to drive upgrades they needed 1080p, still it will do well enough. The Note 3 Pro is likely the best phone in the world right now , remains to be seen for how long. If Mi5 is what we expect, it’s a bad joke.
    - King
      February 1, 2016
      I am kinda caught between Vibe X3 that is on sale for $293 and waiting for Mi5 … whose pricing we do not know yet and I do not know when it will come to my country (India). Sigh!
      - ARUN SUBRAMANIAN
        February 1, 2016
        having used lenovo and xiaomi..well i can say lenovo sucks big time..wait for Mi5 review and then make a buy decision..you wont regret it later
    - balcobomber25
      February 1, 2016
      Basically because realjjjj doesn’t like it, no one will? Recent reports suggest Xiaomi was the top selling brand in China last year suggesting these comments are representative of the “general traffic” and your views are the outlier.
      At 1999 it will be one of the top selling phones on the market. The Note 3 Pro is a great phone itself but they are different phones for different markets. Most people don’t care about a display above 1080p, only hardcore enthusiasts feel like they need 2k display. I work for Microsoft Mobile and I talk to consumers on a daily basis about what they want and need in phone, very few consumers mention a 2k display. The three things they mention most are bigger battery, better camera and fingerprint scanners. And we have detailed studies done from markets around the world including China. Some markets ask for better network coverage or more RAM/Storage space. But there are very few respondents who ask for 2k displays, and none of them even mention home buttons.
      - MaxPower
        February 1, 2016
        He needs medication. Lol
        A full year went by and I’m still waiting to know what phones can compete (in order of specs and price) with Xiaomi.
        I’m really curious to know because of there’s a company that makes better phones for cheaper than I’ll go for it tomorrow.
        balcobomber25
        February 1, 2016
        He will never answer you. Just like the other day he tried to convince me that I was wrong and I didn’t like bezels or a home button on phones.
      - MaxPower
        February 1, 2016
        He’s the one that always says that everything is crap and better things will show up in 6 or 12 months… And it says it again later… And then again….
        He probably still has a Nokia flip phone waiting for the best SoC on the cheapest phone
    - MaxPower
      February 1, 2016
- cyril dieudonné
  February 1, 2016

Antonio
February 1, 2016
Xiaomi, I love you… Keep 1080p NOBODY NEEDS MORE. And the GPU will work better, will keep the power enouth for years and you will have THE MOST POWERFULL PHONE in GPU terms.
Thank you
PD: Please fix that bullshit of the locked bootloader
Young
February 1, 2016
Good decision. I was wondering how we will cope with the battery capacity and 2k display.
Kudos to Xiaomi
Nolan
February 1, 2016
1080p for 5.5 inch and below is perfect. Also, will result in higher AnTuTu scores. I can’t wait for AnTuTu to be run on this device on some YouTube video. I hope it achieves a v5 score above 90,000.
- VMortens
  February 1, 2016
  It will not be a 5.5 inch screen for sure. 5, or 5.2, but no more.
- balcobomber25
  February 1, 2016
  I hope it achieves an 89,999 because that extra point means soo much!!!
Steven Fox
February 1, 2016
Wonderful decision, good to see that Huawei and Xiaomi have some sense, unlike their Korean rivals(LG and Samsung)who have had QHD displays for years and customers have been rooting the phones and lowering the resolution to increace battery life!
- balcobomber25
  February 1, 2016
  - Tomas Thorley
    February 1, 2016
    Lowering resolution would not increase battery life… unless it does not scale to the full size of the screen and only then it would save battery life on an AMOLED display as the unlit pixels would not use power. You’d have massive black borders around the 1080p view.
    If you ran 1080p on an QHD LCD based phone for example, it would still have the exact same amount of pixels to power and would still then use the same amount of power.
    - balcobomber25
      February 1, 2016
      - Tomas Thorley
        February 1, 2016
xi7
February 1, 2016
- balcobomber25
  February 1, 2016
  - xi7
    February 1, 2016
    - balcobomber25
      February 1, 2016
      - xi7
        February 1, 2016
        balcobomber25
        February 1, 2016
        Not today but when the Mi Note was released it was enough.
        xi7
        February 1, 2016
        $600 mi note pro released 2015/1 with old imx214 ? never…
        both 2015/1 – price and camera not enough mi note pro.
        balcobomber25
        February 1, 2016
        What’s so bad about the IMX 214 in your viewpoint besides it being “old”. What is so “old” about it? And what sensor should the Mi Note have use?
        
        xi7
        February 1, 2016
        is not good enough for a high-end. elefone. jiayu, ulefone… imx214 mid-range = ok.
        balcobomber25
        February 1, 2016
        Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Lenovo, Huaweii all used IMX 214….
        xi7
        February 1, 2016
        yes used with all mid-range phone, not high end.
        balcobomber25
        February 1, 2016
        Vivo Xshot is one of the best camera phones ever made, even today it blows away most competitors. It uses the IMX 214.
        
        xi7
        February 2, 2016
        https://youtu.be/7ZZXA8QknzU – similarity sensor imx214 / imx135 – check night performance
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        Not sure what your trying to prove with this video. The Xshot looks better with night shots….
        xi7
        February 2, 2016
        9:24 – 9:31 , just look at the wall , and video recorder, no magic.
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        What do you think these photo’s show? They both use the same sensor, the IMX214 and IMX135 are near identical sensors, the 214 has some software upgrades. What exactly are you trying to prove here?
        
        xi7
        February 2, 2016
        I hope this year Xiaomi provide a better sensor. imx214 in 2015 not convinced. mi4 / mi note pro
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        Mi4c used imx258, Redmi Note 2/3 used a Samsung/OV sensor. They have already moved away from the 214. Again what is your point? At the time when they used the 214 it was one of the best sensors available. Today there are better ones and they are using them.
        
        xi7
        February 2, 2016
        still with mid-range camera but you listed mid-range device too.
        
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        When the Mi4 was released the IMX 214 was used on many flagship devices and it was one of the best sensors available. What part of that don’t you understand? Maybe you need to see a list of phones that used the IMX 214? Here you go:
        Xiaomi Mi4
        One Plus One
        Oppo Find 7
        Nubia Z7
        Nexus 6
        Honor 6
        Ascend P7
        Ascend Mate 7
        Vivo X5
        Vivo Xshot
        All of those were flagship phones or near flagship. It seems in your mind because the camera on one phone with the 214 was bad, the sensor itself must be a bad sensor. They could have used an imx234 or 240 and it still would have terrible photos, because they are using cheap lenses and bad software.
        xi7
        February 2, 2016
        ok but mi note pro, 2015.
        
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        At the time they were building and designing the phone, the 214 was still a top camera sensor. The Mi Note went on sale in May of 2014, meaning they designed and produced them around Nov/Dec 2014. The only camera sensors available from Sony at that time were the 214, 220 and 240. Xiaomi had no experience using the 240 or 220 so they chose the 214. You would much rather them use a sensor they are familiar with. Here were Gizchina’s comments on it:
        “Having owned the Xiaomi Mi Note for such a long time I have had ample time to test the camera in all situations and find it to be a stunning shooter.” 9/10.
        Pr0
        February 2, 2016
        Can you guys stop, it’s enough
        balcobomber25
        February 2, 2016
        You must be new here…
balcobomber25
February 1, 2016
2K screens are not needed in devices this small. They are a waste of resources, cost more to produce and really don’t look that much better. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a Pro Model in the works with that useless display.
- Tajwar
  February 1, 2016
  If it’s as good(if not better) as the display of the mx5 then I’m in
  - balcobomber25
    February 1, 2016
    I’ll actually be surprised if they use an AMOLED display. Xiaomi has never used AMOLED’s before they have always used IPS displays from Sharp and JDI.
Twister12
February 1, 2016

Xiaomi Mi 5 won’t have a 2K display, but a 1080p one!

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