There have been rumours that Xiaomi might unveil its next flagship smartphone, the Mi 5, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade show in Barcelona. These were followed by last week's confirmation by the company’s co-founder and Senior VP Liwan Jiang, who said Xiaomi's Spring Conference will be held on Feb. 24.

On Tuesday, Xiaomi's global Vice President Hugo Barra confirmed the launch date for the much awaited Mi 5 via Twitter. His tweet reads “#Mi5 is almost here! Xiaomi's first product launch in 2016, on February 24. It's everything you imagined, and more.”

The company's India Head Manu Kumar Jain also tweeted and confirmed that the Mi 5 will be launched on the aforementioned date, reports GSM Arena. Leaked images indicated that the company was going to host a two hour-long presentation, which is longer than expected for the announcement of just one product. This has led to speculations that Xiaomi may also announce another gadget or two during the same event.

Earlier tweets by Hugo indicate that the device will surely house the latest 64-bit Quad-Core Snapdragon 820 processor. The smartphone is slated to come in two variants - 3GB RAM with 32GB in-built storage and 4GB RAM with 64GB native storage. It is also expected to feature a 16-megapixel main camera and 13-megapixel front-facing shooter.

Other rumours suggest that the smartphone will come in four variants including two metal and two glass models, reports GizmoChina. The report also revealed the expected price of the different variants.

The metal clad models with 3GB/32GB and 4GB/64GB configurations are tipped to be priced at CNY 2,199 (AU$476) and CNY 2,599 (AU$563) respectively. On the other hand, the Mi 5 glass models will feature 2.5D curve glass 2K display with 4GB RAM. The two variants with 32GB and 64GB in-built storage will be priced at 2799 Yuan (AU$606) and 3099 Yuan (AU$671) respectively.

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