Xiaomi's latest Android phones are official, offering consumers the chance to see what the 18:9 display craze is all about for an affordable price.
The Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus were announced today. Both phones feature tall displays with an 18:9 aspect ratio as well as rounded corners. The Redmi 5 screen is a 5.7-inch 1440x720 display while the Redmi 5 Plus boasts a 5.99-inch 2160x1080 screen.
The designs of Xiaomi's two new phones are fairly similar, including a rear fingerprint reader, protruding rear 12-megapixel camera with phase detection autofocus and an f/2.2 aperture, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera. However, the internals of the two phones are somewhat different.
The Redmi 5 comes in two variants, one with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage and one with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage, while the Redmi 5 Plus starts at 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage and goes up to 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The processors of the two phones are different, too, with the Redmi 5 packing a Snapdragon 450 and the Redmi 5 Plus coming equipped with a Snapdragon 625.
Rounding out the feature sets of these two phones is a 3.5mm headphone jack, a microSD card slot, a 3300mAh battery for the Redmi 5, and a 4000mAh battery for the Redmi 5 Plus. Both phones are running Android beneath Xiaomi's custom MIUI 9 user interface.
Pricing for the Redmi 5 starts at 799 yuan ($120) for the 2GB/16GB model and goes up to 899 yuan ($135) for the 3GB/32GB model. The Redmi 5 Plus starts at 999 yuan ($151) for the 3GB/32GB version and goes up to 1299 yuan ($196) for the top-end 4GB/64GB variant. Both the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus will launch in China on December 12th.
Xiaomi is known for regularly offering solid, well-design Android phones for affordable prices, and the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus look to continue that trend. They aren't the most high-end phones around, but they look nice and they utilize the 18:9 aspect ratio that we see so many flagship devices adopting nowadays.
What do you think of Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus? Would you buy one if these two phones were offered in your country?
