You can’t deny Xiaomi gives you the best spec smartphones at very competitive prices. Their latest Xiaomi Mi 5 offers a lot of phone for your money and it costs about half of what the mainstream players are selling.
The issue, of course, is availability and Xiaomi is struggling to keep up with demand even in their home ground in China. The Mi 5 flagship went on sale on 1st March and it would probably take months before they could start selling in Malaysia. If you can’t wait, you can get it now in Malaysia thanks to grey importer DirectD.
Like any brand new imported smartphones, be prepared to pay a premium for this. The Mi 5 is offered at RM1,799 and this is for the lower spec model. It gets a lower clocked 1.8GHz Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB of on-board storage. In China, this specific model is going for 1,999 CNY which is about RM1,255 with our current exchange rate. Despite its higher price tag, this is still the most affordable Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone you can buy right now and it’s cheaper than most 2015 flagships.
In terms of official availability, there’s no visibility for the Malaysian market but the folks in India will be getting it as early as next month. Earlier this week, the Mi 5 has already gotten our Malaysian SIRIM approval but we reckon that will be released after the Redmi Note 3 launches in Malaysia in April.
Want a cheaper alternative? The Mi 4S is also offered by DirectD at RM1,399. That comes with a 5″ Full HD screen, Snapdragon 808 processor, 3GB RAM and a larger 64GB of on-board storage that’s expandable with microSD.
If you’re interested, head over to DirectD’s Mi 5 page.
Xiaomi Mi 5 Hands-on
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