How Xiaomi's new Mi5 flagship device differs from its predecessor

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi launched its highly anticipated Mi5 flagship smartphone at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Wednesday. The phone is the successor to Mi4, which was launched two years ago.

The phone goes on sale in China on March 1 and will be released in other markets later. It starts at $306 in overseas markets, and the company hasn't announced a date to launch it in India.

The phone comes in black, gold and white colour variants. The top-end Mi5 Pro variant features a 3D ceramic body that the company says is durable and water-resitant. This variant comes with 128GB storage and 4GB RAM. The handset also has a metal and glass body variant with 3GB RAM and up to 64GB storage.

In comparison, the Mi4 comes with 3GB RAM and 16GB or 64GB storage.

Spec sheet The phone boasts a 5.15-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1920X1080 pixels. It has a fingerprint scanner in the front that dabbles up as the home button. The curved edges on both sides make it look like the Samsung Edge.

The device is also equipped with sunlight display technology, which improves visibility under direct sunlight. Under the hood, the Mi5 is powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 chipset. The phone weighs just 129 grams and is 7.25 mm slim.

In comparison to Mi4, the new handset is lighter, has dual-SIM capabilities and supports 4G technology.

As far as the software is concerned, it comes with Android 6.0 Marshmallow-based MiUi 7.

Camera Camera is another part where the company claims to have done some significant improvements. The phone sports the latest 16-megapixel camera with the latest sensor from Sony (IMX298). The camera is better than the Mi4's 13MP rear camera.

The Mi5 also has a 4-megapixel front camera with a wide-angle lens. Its camera doesn't stick out like with other devices.

The left edge of the phone has the nano-SIM card slot while the right side has the volume rocker and power/standby button.

The phone is armed with a 3,000mAh non-removable battery and supports Qualcomm's Quick Charge 3.0, which can charge the phone up to 90 per cent in just one hour.