Xiaomi Mi 5X gets revealed: is it essentially a Mi 6 Lite?

Xiaomi is well known for launching multiple variations of its phones. Take a look at the Mi 4, coming in vanilla Mi 4,  Mi 4C and Mi 4i flavours. Now, it’s time for another addition to the Mi 5 (review) family, in the form of the Xiaomi Mi 5X.

The Chinese firm revealed the full specs today, a day after showing off a hardware design that revealed a dual camera layout and rear fingerprint scanner.

As for the actual specs, you’re indeed looking at a Snapdragon 625 chipset that Xiaomi is obsessed with, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, a 3080mAh battery, a 5.5-inch screen (resolution wasn’t disclosed but it’s most likely 1080p) and “high quality audio”.

In the camera department, the Mi 5X is packing two 12MP cameras on the back, in the form of a traditional 12MP shooter and a 12MP telephoto lens. So the hardware design isn’t the only aspect that brings Apple to mind. Xiaomi claims that this allows for a portrait mode and optical zoom (courtesy of the telephoto camera).

The Xiaomi Mi 5X can be seen as a cut-price Mi 6, owing to a near-identical camera arrangement

As for a price, Xiaomi has slapped a RMB1499 RRP on its device, which equates to roughly R2900 as a straight conversion. Of course, all sorts of taxes, duties and profit margins have to be added to this price if the phone comes to South Africa.

Xiaomi also peeled the curtain back on MIUI 9, a day after tentatively revealing a few features. Aside from the previously revealed bloatware cutbacks and new default themes, we’ve also got a smart assistant for finding content (such as photos, texts, notes), an image search tool, “dynamic resource allocation” and faster app launch times.