Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus Comparison – Clash of the Generations!

Xiaomi has always been a top-notch manufacturer, hasn’t it? The smartphones maker from the ancient Chinese Land has always given a tough time for other international brands like Apple and Samsung. We’re not here to talk how great is Xiaomi; rather, we’re here to witness a great battle between the two generations, a fight between Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus for the prestige of being called as Xiaomi’s ultimate effort. Both generations are worthy of the title, but only one can be called the best.

So, without further wasting your time, let’s dive in the sea of differences between the three terminals:

Note: For a fair comparison we are selecting the Pro version of Xiaomi Mi 5, instead of the standard variant.

Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus Comparison – Every Difference You Need To Know

Design & Appearance

In Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus, all three of them are entirely different from each other. Mentioning the appearance first, Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus is the biggest of all variant following Xiaomi Mi 5S and the most compact Mi 5. In thickness, the Mi 5 wins the race with only 7.3 mm thin (1 mm less than Mi 5S and 0.7 mm than 5S Plus). Here’s a table mentioned below, highlighting the physical factors of the three contestants:

Even the chassis of both generations varies. The previous generation is molded from Glass (Standard Mi 5) and the rare ceramic material for Mi 5 Pro. Due to the ceramic body, Mi 5 is much lighter than the other two competitors. However, the new generation follows the footstep of Mi 5 standard with all metal, unibody.

The button placement seems to almost same in Xiaomi Mi 5 and Mi 5S. The change can only be witnessed with the home screen button, as Mi 5S button invaginates due to the ultrasonic fingerprint reader. Meanwhile, Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus is totally diverse from its brothers. Maybe that’s because of those three touch-based buttons. It looks like that instead of following Mi 5; the 5S Plus passes the heritage of Redmi series.

Comparing the rear of all three specimens, Mi 5 remains the most charming smartphone. It is due to its ceramic design along with those 3D curves further exaggerating the terminal’s beauty. The new generation is similar to the old one due to the fact both Mi 5S (camera layout, although inverted) and Mi 5S Plus (3D curved back) possessing some of their’s predecessor characteristics. Moreover, they are also different from the ancestor because of unibody design for Mi 5S and Dual camera layout for Plus. Sadly, none of them features Gorilla Glass Protection. It’s still a fantasy for Xiaomi lovers.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5 (Pro)

Hardware & Performance

We all know that the new Mi 5S is among one of the smartphones which feature Snapdragon 821 as the heart of the flagship. The Plus variant has the same SoC but with better speed clock (up to 2.35 GHz). No doubt, they are better as compared to it’s older brother Xiaomi Mi 5 as Snapdragon is an upgrade to Snapdragon 820. The differences within the two SoC are not that much but still the gap in the performance, and the benchmark is tremendous.

Both generations can be appreciated because of their memory. Xiaomi Mi 5S and Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro integrates the same amount of RAM which is 4 GB. But Mi 5 Plus takes the lead here due to it’s generous 6 GB of RAM. All three brothers unite when it comes to internal storage has all have variants which feature maximum storage of 128 GB (UFS 2.0 Flash), which is quite a heck of space. We found it quite surprisingly in this war of Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus that none of the product highlights a MicroSD card. Even these terminals have same GPU ‘Adreno 530’, the new generation is merely overclocked. It’s true that unity is the strength.

You may think that Mi 5S Plus even beats the other two smartphones in battery timing. Although Mi 5S Plus has a massive battery, still, we can’t neglect the large display and 6GB RAM. of it. Regarding battery all three reasonably tie while supporting QC 3.0.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus

Screen & Display

This section is not so specially. Moreover, it’s a disappointment. No doubt, Xiaomi is good in rendering excellent high-resolution screen. We get to see a Full-HD resolution in all three contestants. Although Mi 5S Plus takes an advantage here with a larger screen, it lacks brightness (550-nits) as compared to Mi 5 and Mi 5S (600-nits). We said disappointment, as we expected Plus variant to be 2K. When will see a 2K Xiaomi smartphone? Maybe soon. 😉

Meanwhile, Mi 5S leads this category in  Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus comparison. Why? The hotshot sports the worldwide trending 3D Touch Display which is the selling point of the flagship.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5S

Connectivity & Features

Speaking of connectivity, it retains the same configuration like it was in Xiaomi Mi 5: Dual SIM, 4G LTE, Bluetooth v4.2, WiFi, GPS, NFC, and others.

Variety comes with the fingerprint reader as Mi 5S Plus, and Mi 5 features a simple fingerprint reader on the back and front, respectively. However, Xiaomi Mi 5S beats both by introducing the world’s first ultrasonic fingerprint reader. Isn’t it interesting?

More importantly, all of the phones have IR blaster and runs on Android 6.0 (MIUI 8).

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5S

Camera

The most vivid difference you can find in Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus is the camera. Mi 5S Plus is Xiaomi’s first flagship device which utilizes the dual camera, and no doubt, it will bring a big leap in Xiaomi’s camera quality as compared to Mi 5 and 5S. Even the camera of Mi 5S is special as it’s ultra light-sensitive.

See: Xiaomi Mi 5S camera samples

From the official specification, Mi 5S has another plus point, which is the ability to record 1080p video at breathtaking 120 fps. At last is the Mi 5 which make use of sapphire lens camera and also yields some detailed pictures.

Winner: None

Price

If you guys ask us about the pricing, we would recommend Xiaomi Mi 5S as it’s the cheapest (not than Mi 5 standard version) plus it point out the most features like 3D Touch, light sensitive camera. The original price of Mi 5 Pro version was  2699 RMB, but because of two new flagship devices launched, it has dropped the price to 2399 RMB.

Selecting the version depends on upon you. If you want more RAM than Mi 5S Plus will perfectly suit you. If you need a much elegant phone, the old Mi 5 (Pro) version with ceramic hood is the best.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5S

Conclusion

It’s time to choose an overall winner of Xiaomi Mi 5 vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S vs. Xiaomi Mi 5S Plus looking at the categories, and it is:

Overall Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5S

Reasons:

• 3D Touch
• Light sensitive camera
• Ultrasonic fingerprint reader
• Price

So, do you agree with us? Let us know by leaving a comment!