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​Xiaomi unveils Mi5s and Mi5s Plus in China

Xiaomi has unveiled the Mi5s and Mi5s Plus smartphones at a launch event in Beijing, while also showing off the Xiaomi Mi TV S3, a TV with artificial intelligence capabilities.
Written by Cho Mu-Hyun, Contributing Writer

Chinese handset maker Xiaomi has unveiled its next flagship phones the Mi5S and Mi5S Plus in Beijing.

Founder and CEO Lei Jun said the new handsets were level with rival products made by Apple and Samsung, and in camera features more superior.

Both models, successors to the Mi5 that was unveiled earlier this year at Mobile World Congress, are powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 821 with 64GB and 128GB internal memory options.

The 5.15-inch Mi5s comes with ultrasonic fingerprint recognition in 3GB or 4GB LPDDR4 RAM options, and packs 3,200 mAh in battery and a 12-megapixel rear camera.

The bigger, 5.7-inch Mi5s Plus has 4GB or 6GB LPDDR4 RAM options. It doesn't have the ultrasonic fingerprint recognition but comes with a 13 megapixel dual rear camera and a 3,800 mAh battery.

For the 64GB internal memory and lesser RAM models, the Mi5s costs 1,999 yuan ($300), while the Mi5s Plus costs 2,299 yuan ($350). Compared to the Mi5, the Mi5s only costs 100 yuan more.

Specs wise, it is near level with flagship phones by Apple and Samsung but costs half the price, both of which cost over $600 in China.

Alongside the phones, Xiaomi unveiled its new smart TV, the Mi TV S3, which comes in 55-inches and 65-inches with what the company calls Patch Wall puzzle interface. This is claimed to be based on AI technology, though Lei did not elaborate on what it does.

The Chinese market is now dominated by local vendors such as Xiaomi and Huawei, while global giants Apple and Samsung are seeing profit decline there.

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