Mi is biggest surprise always As promised by Xiaomi’s VP of International, Hugo Barra, at the Redmi Note 3 launch, the flagship from the Chinese phone maker – the Mi 5 – was launched in India on 31 March and went on sale on 6 April. This is only a month after its launch in China. The Xiaomi Mi 5, which was first announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, has been two years in the making.
We had been hearing about its rumoured launch since last year. Xiaomi’s announcement at MWC 2016 – its first outside of Asia and in front of the global media – is a huge step forward for what was till now considered to be just a Chinese brand. Of course, Xiaomi has been selling its phones in India since 2013. But with the Xiaomi Mi 5, it certainly has ambitions that go beyond China, India and other southeast Asian markets.
Now that the product has finally arrived in our test centre, it’s time to do some detailed analysis to see if this is the flagship phone to go for.