Redmi Note 5 set for Valentine's Day launch? All you need to know
Just two months into 2018, smartphone maker Xiaomi is ready to set the stage for what could be a very productive and profitable year for it.
Its stupendous success has largely been built on the sales of blockbuster devices like the Redmi Note 4, which, till date, remains one of the best-selling smartphones in the country. However, the phone is now a year old and as such its charm is slightly waning. Increased competition in the price segment has made the Note 4 look like an outdated device that is finding it hard to compete with newer handsets such as the Honor 9 Lite.
Xiaomi, if reports are to be believed, is looking to fix the situation by bringing a new budget segment warrior on February 14 in the form of Redmi Note 5 to cement its newfound position as a market leader.
Availability
Over the past few days, the company has been quite active on social media and has been teasing users with the hashtag #GiveMe5. Earlier, there were suggestions that this could be for the launch of the Redmi 5 or the Redmi 5 Plus smartphones that were announced in China in December.
However, considering the success of the Redmi Note 4, and the need of a new flagship phone in the market, it's more plausible that the social media activity is indeed Xiaomi's attempt to build up hype ahead of the eventual launch of Redmi Note 5.
It is also hinting at a February 14 launch for the Redmi Note 5. Xiaomi's official website has the countdown timer "redminote5", and a campaign currently running on Flipkart also hints at the same – a full-page banner and video hinting at the Redmi Note 5's imminent launch can be found on the e-commerce giant's webpage.
What the phone will bring
The new device is expected to look and feel more in line with today's times. It is expected to be heavily inspired by the Redmi 5 Plus that was earlier announced in China, and as such it could come sporting an 18:9 5.99-inch Full HD+ display.
Coming to the internals, the device is expected to sport 3-4GB of RAM and 64-128GB storage on board, paired with a more than capable Snapdragon 636 processor. The phone will also sport dual cameras consisting of one 16-megapixel sensor and another 5-megapixel sensor (for portrait selfies).
The device will come running Android Nougat-based MIUI 9 and will be powered by a 4,100mAh-battery that will support fast charging.
Price
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has been known for its light-on-the-pocket but heavy-on-specs phones. And a prime example of that is the Redmi Note line-up that has managed to strike a fine balance between internals and price. Expect the Note 5 to take that legacy forward.
There are suggestions that the Redmi Note 5 with its bezel-less display and improved internals could see a slight bump in price, which will see it touching the Rs 15,000-mark – in line with the 1,499 yuan ( approx Rs 15,000) the Redmi 5 Plus comes at – but our guess is that the company will try to keep the higher 4GB RAM variant under the Rs 13,000-threshold, and the 3GB RAM variant under the Rs 11,000-mark.
Both the devices at this particular price would represent stellar buys, and give the likes of the Mi A1 and the Moto G5s Plus more than strong competition.