Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi has taken the wraps off two new smartphones, the Mi5s and Mi5s Plus, both of which come with their own headline grabbing features.

They follow the release of the Mi5 Pro, which we've previously had some hands on time with, and we were impressed with its build quality and capabilities. It could comfortably rival most other flagships and cost a fraction of the price. 

With the two new smartphones, Xiaomi is looking to do the same again by packing in similar features to the ones we're seeing on phones such as the iPhone 7 Plus. 

Xiaomi Mi5s

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Miui

The Mi5s, which is the smaller of the two smartphones with a 5.15in full HD display, has what Xiaomi is calling an Ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. This sees the scanner embedded into the glass on the front of the phone and use Qualcomm’s Sense ID scanning technology. It means that the scanner will be able to recognise your fingers and thumbs in a split second, and even still work if they’re wet or moist. We were able to demo the technology back in March and found that the wetter our fingers were, the better the technology worked.

Sense ID sends ultrasonic soundwaves into your finger to not only measure your unique print, but the depth of the ridges within it to further enhance security.

While the scanner is embedded into the screen, it doesn’t mean you can place your finger anywhere to unlock it, you’ll still need to rest your digits on a specified area.

Elsewhere the Mi5s has a 12-megapixel Sony camera on the back, with a 1/ 2.3in sensor and f/2.0 aperture, which on paper trumps both the iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge. On the front you’ll find a 4MP snapper for selfies.

A 2.15GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with 3 or 4GB of RAM keeps things running smoothly and the Mi5s is powered by a 3200mAh battery which benefits from Qualcomm QuickCharge 3.0 technology.

UK pricing and availability has yet to be announced, but Chinese prices convert to $299 for the 3GB/64GB model and $344 for the 4GB/128GB.

 

Xiaomi Mi5s Plus

xiaomi’s new smartphones feature embedded fingerprint scanners and dual lens cameras image 3
Miui

The second phone released by Xiaomi is the Mi5s Plus, which doesn’t have the fignerprint scanner, but it does gain a dual-lens camera. It’s a similar system to the one found on the Huawei Mate P9 wherein one lens captures colour images while the other does black and white. If you’re taking colour images, the Mi5s Plus will use both sensor to, in theory, enhance the final photo.

Given the Plus in the phone’s model name, it’s a larger model with a 5.7in full HD display, but it runs on the same Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB or 6GB of RAM. It will be priced at around $344 for the 4GB/64GB model and $389 for the 6GB/128GB model. Both phones will be available in gray, silver, gold and rose gold.