Many Xiaomi fans across this side of the border have been eagerly awaiting the Redmi Note 5, but looks like Xiaomi won’t be bringing out a new Redmi Note 5 to succeed its best selling phone of 2017.
Instead, the Redmi 5 Plus with a full-vision display that was launched a few weeks back will fill in the gap.
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According to a blog published on Xiaomi’s MIUI forum, the Redmi Note 5 series could be remodelled as Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. “No one knows, but as of the moment, Xiaomi has decided to drop the Note name on their 5.7″ sized budget phones,” page claimed. This doesn’t mean it is official, Xiaomi is yet to confirm on this.
Why Xiaomi isn’t launching the Redmi Note 5?
This might be because of the Xiomi’s budget portfolio growing increasingly populous. Xiaomi now has quite a few smartphones scattered in the budget price range including Mi A1, three variants of Redmi 4, three variants of Redmi Note 4, Redmi Y1, Redmi Y1 lite, and even two variants of Redmi 5A. Adding a Redmi Note 5 to the mix simply doesn’t seem feasible at this point in time.
Moreover, the Redmi Note 4 still continues to retail well in India. It makes more sense for Xiaomi to simply replace the existing Redmi 4 series with Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. However, we are just taking an educated guess as of now. Xiaomi might, after all, rebrand Redmi 5 Plus as Redmi Note 5 for India.
Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus Features
As for the specification, the Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus features a 5.7-inch and 5.99-inch near bezel-less display with HD+ resolution and 18:9 aspect ratio. Both phones have a single 12MP sensor on the rear and a 5MP sensor on the front.
In terms of innards, the Redmi 5 employs an octa-core Snapdragon 450 chipset paired with 2GB/3GB and 16GB/32GB internal storage. Whereas the Redmi 5 Plus rocks Snapdragon 625 octa-core SoC mated with 3GB/4GB and 32GB/64GB storage.
The handset features a premium all-metal unibody design with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. In terms of connectivity, they both offer dual-SIM slots, 4G LTE, VoLTE, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. Software-wise, it boots Android 7.1.1 Nougat based MIUI 9 out of the box.
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Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus price and availability
The Redmi 5 price in China starts at CNY 799 (which is roughly about Rs 7,800) for the 2GB + 16GB variant. The 3GB + 32GB Redmi 5 is priced at CNY 899 (approx Rs 8,800). The is made available in Black, Blue, Gold and Pink hues.
The Redmi 5 Plus, on the other hand, base variant of (3GB + 32GB) is retailing at CNY 999 (almost Rs. 9,800 in conversion) and top variant with 4GB RAM+ 64GB storage comes for CNY 1299 (approx Rs 12,700).
Both phones are expected to launch in India in January 2018.
Xiaomi Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus Specifications
| Model | Xiaomi Redmi 5 | Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus |
| Display | 5.7-inch (18:9), 720 x 1440 pixel HD+ display | 5.99-inch (18:9), 1080×2160 pixel Full HD+ display |
| Processor | 1.8GHz Snapdragon 450 octa-core | 2.0GHz Snapdragon 625 octa-core |
| RAM | 2GB/3GB | 3GB/4GB |
| Internal Storage | 16GB/32GB expandable to 128GB | 32GB/64GB, expandable to 128GB |
| Software | MIUI 9 | MIUI 9 |
| Primary Camera | 12MP | 12MP |
| Secondary Camera | 5MP | 5MP |
| Battery | 3200mAh Battery, | 4000mAh Battery |
| Others | 4G, VoLTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Fingerprint sensor, IR blaster, and GPS | 4G, VoLTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Fingerprint sensor, IR blaster, and GPS |
| Price | CNY 999 | CNY 1299 |
