Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Huawei Mate 8; comparison of specifications, availability and price

After being unveiled on Nov. 26, in early December, Huawei Mate 8 went on sale in China. The phone was sold out at many Chinese retailers on its very first day. On the other hand, another leading Chinese smartphone manufacturer, Xiaomi, is slated to announce its latest flagship Mi 5 in February. Let us now take a sneak peek into the specifications of the two latest offerings by Xiaomi and Huawei.

Display

The Xiaomi Mi5 will sport a 5.2-inch either full-HD or QHD display with a 1,080 x 1,920 pixels screen resolution. Earlier leaks also suggested that the device will sport a 2.5D curved glass display. According to recently leaked images, the handset is tipped to come in Black, Gold, Pink and White colour variants.

The device may have a 3D glass covering the back panel, reports NDTV Gadgets. Rumours also suggest that the smartphone will sport a touch sensitive display technology like Apple’s 3D Force Touch.

The recently launched Huawei Mate 8 features a 6.0 inch display with 1,080 x 1,920 pixels resolution, that results in a 368 ppi (pixels per inch) pixel density. The device touts a metallic unibody design and is available in unique colour variants including Champagne Gold, Moonlight Silver, Space Gray and Mocha Brown.

Fingerprint sensor and NFC support

The much anticipated Xiaomi Mi 5 is tipped to feature an oval-shaped home button hosting a fingerprint sensor, which will apparently be the smallest and fastest sensor in the market. The device is also slated to come packed with the support for NFC. The handset is expected to run MIUI 7 based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

On the other hand, Huawei Mate 8 houses a round-shaped fingerprint scanner at the back panel just like Mate S and Ascend Mate 7. The NFC-supported Mate 8 is shipped with Android 6.0 Marshmallow and 4.0 EMUI.

Processor

Last week, Liwan Jiang, co-founder and senior VP of Xiaomi, confirmed that the company’s flagship smartphone will sport a Snapdragon 820 SoC. Huawei’s latest flagship device also sports its homegrown HiSilicon Kirin 950 processor. The company claims the latest chipset to be “more streamlined, more energy efficient and much faster when it comes to everyday tasks such as browsing the web, watching videos, or launching apps.”

Native storage and memory

Huawei Mate 8 comes in two variants with different RAM and internal storage configurations. The base model comes with 3GB of RAM with 32GB built-in storage whereas the other sibling features 4GB of RAM with 64GB of native memory. Incidentally, Xiaomi Mi 5 is also slated to be released with two variants with similar configurations.

Battery

The Mate 8 sports a 4,000 mAh high-capacity battery with SmartPower technology. The improved power management technology gives 22 days of standby time. Xiaomi is expected to ship its latest flagship with a 3,600 mAh battery cell with Quick Charge 3.0 technology.

Camera

On the camera front, the Xiaomi Mi 5 is rumoured to sport a 16MP IMX298 camera sensor by Sony and a 13MP front-facing snapper. The Huawei mate 8 features a 16MP rear camera with f/2.0 and optical image stabilisation (OIS) along with an 8MP front shooter and dual-tone LED flash.

Price and availability

Last week, at the CES 2016, Huawei globally launched Mate 8. The 3GB/32GB variant of the Mate 8 will cost 599 euros (AU$921) and the 4GB/64GB model will come with a price tag of 699 euros (AU$1,075). The device will be available in 30 countries including Australia, Spain, Germany, France, United Arab Emirates and Mexico.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is expected to be launched after the Spring Festival which is scheduled to commence on Feb. 8. The 3GB RAM version is anticipated to be priced at CNY 1,999 (AU$435) while the one with 64GB built-in storage and 4GB RAM will come with a price tag of CNY 2,299 (AU$500).