For Xiaomi V-Day will kick off 2018. Is Redmi Note 5 on the cards?

Xiaomi is gearing up for its first smartphone launch of 2018 in India. The Chinese company has chosen Valentines Day (aka 14 February), as the day for the unveiling.

Most likely the new model will be Redmi Note 5 (subject to many leaks) but some speculate it could as well be Redmi 5 Plus. These recently debuted in China.

Last month Canalys and Counterpoint reported that Xiaomi led smartphone manufacturers in India with a 27 per cent market share in the fourth quarter of 2017.

Back in January 2017 Xiaomi brought the top-selling Redmi Note 4 and the budget beast is now due for an upgrade. It seems the ideal product to kick off the year. 

Hardly any details are known, besides the fact that it will tout an 18:9 display, like the competition. What we can say for sure is that the smartphone is expected to launch in at least two variants, one of which will be the 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage.

Dual-cameras could make an appearance on the smartphone, as that is a highly requested feature from fans of the company. Xiaomi at some point did say that camera will be a priority going forward and not just the selfie camera.

Redmi Note 5 will come with Xiaomi’s latest MIUI based on Android Nougat.

Redmi 5 & Redmi 5 Plus

There is a chance that the smartphone unveiled will not be the Redmi Note 5. If that is the case, then Xiaomi will be launching the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus. Both those phones are currently only available in China. They are bezel-less phones with edge-to-edge screens, a full metal body and the fingerprint scanner on the back.

The Redmi 5 Plus comes with a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display and comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 processor under the hood. The top variant has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage and runs MIUI 9. The Redmi 5 has a smaller display and more or less the same specifications.

The Redmi 5 smartphone is expected to come in under Rs 10,000.

Come 14 February and we’ll be at the event to let you know which smartphone is indeed launching. Stay tuned for more updates.