With the rumor mill going crazy and the leaks coming at a pretty decent pace, the hype for the upcoming Xiaomi Mi5 and its big brother the Mi5 Plus, is just as big as it has ever been for one of Xiaomi’s flagship handsets. Anybody watching Xiaomi’s rise to prominence, looking for a good budget flagship or just interested in the Chinese phone scene should already be well aware of the fairly exciting rumored specs for the pair. Now, courtesy of new leaks which surfaced recently, we may be getting a glimpse of the phone in the wild. What we’re seeing here seems to be in line with some of the renders we’ve been seeing, while debunking a good number of them if this is the real deal.
Xiaomi’s usual squarish, industrial design is on prominent display, but this time around we’re getting a distinctive metal rim and a long physical home button to go along with the minimalist box of a handset. The volume rocker is on the side and a front facing camera flanks the phone’s earpiece. It also seems a tad more square than previous renders, certainly more Samsung Galaxy Note 5 than Apple iPhone 6S Plus. The “inspired” design touches compliment Xiaomi’s usual design conventions quite well, leading to a premium, industrialist design that seems to be a fitting sequel to the Mi4 and Mi Note line. Unfortunately, the leaks only showed the front panel and a little look at the side, so there’s nothing to say about the back that hasn’t been said by previous leaks and renders. These are, of course, leaks; we can’t verify if they’re the real deal and they should thus be taken with a grain of salt.
According to rumors, the handset should see the light of day in July, although it could always come sooner; this leak, if it’s the real deal, seems to show a near-finished product. It could, of course, just be a prototype. In any case, expect the rumor mill to keep on churning and a strong possibility of more leaks as the touchdown date for the handset, and perhaps its big brother, draws near.
