Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Xiaomi Mi 5: Specs and price compared; release date revealed

The Mobile World Congress 2016 witnessed the unveiling of few of the best Android-powered smartphones of 2016.

Just a day before the trade show kicked off, Samsung launched its new Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge on Feb. 21. On Wednesday, Chinese OEM Xiaomi announced its much anticipated flagship of the year, the Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 5 Pro.

Here we try to make a comparative review of specs and features of both the flagship smartphones.

Display

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge sports 5.1-inch and 5.5.-inch displays respectively, protected by Gorilla Glass 4. Both the handsets feature the much superior Super AMOLED display with 2K Quad HD (2,560 x 1,440 pixels) resolutions with a pixel density of 577 pixels per inch (ppi) for the S7 and 534 ppi for S7 edge.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes packed with a 5.15-inch IPS Full HD display screen with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080 pixels, which results in pixel density of 428ppi.

However, as far as the design is concerned the Xiaomi Mi 5 touts a 3D glass curved rear panel, whereas its larger sibling, the Mi 5 Pro sports a high-quality 3D ceramic body. On the other hand, the Galaxy S7 sports a design almost similar to that of its predecessor. The IP68 certified new Galaxy S7 is fully water and dust resistant, confirms Samsung.

The Galaxy S7 will be available in four colour variants Black, White, Silver and Gold. On the other hand, the Xiaomi Mi 5 will be retailed in Black, White and Gold.

Processor and storage

Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor powers both the Galaxy S7 and Xiaomi Mi 5. However, depending on the market it sells in, Galaxy S7 also feature Samsung's own Exynos 8890 SoC.

Both the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge sport 4 GB of RAM with 32GB or 64GB storage options. As expected, Samsung also restored its microSD card slot for memory expansion up to 200GB.

On the other hand, the Xiaomi Mi 5 offers 3GB of RAM with 32 GB or 64 GB internal storage options. The premium Mi 5 Pro features 4GB of RAM with 128 GB in-built storage. All the three variants offer an expandable memory up to 200 GB.

According to a report in Phone Arena, Xiaomi Mi 5 scored 142,084 on AnTuTu as compared to the Exynos 8890 powered version of Galaxy S7, which scored 116,668.

Camera

In terms of camera specs, the Mi 5 is a winner. The smartphone features a 16-megapixel rear-facing Sony IMX 298 camera sensor equipped with f/2.0 aperture, 4-axis Optical image stabilisation, 4K video recording and phase detection auto focus.

With Galaxy S7, Samsung introduced the first Dual Pixel camera wider aperture (f/1.7), faster shutter speed and accurate auto-focus in low light conditions. The rear-facing unit houses a 12-megapixel camera sensor with OIS.

Battery and Operating System

Both the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the Galaxy S7 houses a beefy 3,000 mAh batteries. The Xiaomi Mi 5 runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 7 pre-installed. The Galaxy S7 comes with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow out-of-the-box with TouchWiz UI.

Related: Samsung Galaxy S7 vs Apple iPhone 6s specs: A comparative review of features

Pre-order and release date

In Australia, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone will start taking pre-orders of Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge from Feb. 26. The Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge release date is set on March 11. In the US, major carriers including T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and Verizon Wireless and US Cellular started taking pre-orders from Feb. 23.

Currently, Mi 5 pre-orders are only open in China. The Xiaomi Mi 5 release date is March 1. However, the company is yet confirm price, availability and release date of the smartphone in Australia, Europe and the US.

Related: Samsung Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge to arrive on March 11, pre-orders start Feb. 23

Price

The Samsung Galaxy S7 will cost AU$1149 while the S7 Edge will be priced at AU$1249 in Australia.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes in three variants. The Standard version of the Xiaomi Mi 5 price starts at 1999 Yuan (AU$426 or US$306); the High variant is available for 2299 Yuan (AU$490 or US$352) and the top-end Ceramic Exclusive model costs 2699 (AU$576 or US$413).