Xiaomi Mi 5 that was unveiled last week will only hitting few of the major markets. Moreover, its release in the U.S. seems unlikely as its LTE bands do not support the U.S. carriers.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is the much awaited flagship from the Chinese company. The smartphone was unveiled at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2016 tech event that was held last week. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer had also announced the Xiaomi Mi 4S, a budget phone with impressive specs just before the unveiling of the Mi 5.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 comes in three editions. The 32 GB and 64 GB Xiaomi Mi 5 variants are packed with 3 GB of RAM. The 128 GB model that is known as Xiaomi Mi 5 Pro features 4 GB of RAM. The unveil show that was heled at MWC 2016 was dubbed as global launch event by the company. However, instead of making its Mi 5 flagship available globally to numerous countries, the company aims at only making it available at its major markets, GSM Arena reported.
The Vice President of the firm, Hugo Barra has stated that the company has plans to sell the Mi 5 only at those markets at which it is currently operating. However, he also added that it is too early to talk about Mi 5's global availability.
The Xiaomi Mi 5 will be hitting markets like China, India, Brazil, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. The company may release the smartphone in few more markets but at present there is no official confirmation on it. Users in other markets will be able to purchase the Xiaomi Mi 5 through third party retailers from China at a costlier price tag.
Barra intends to release the Xiaomi Mi 5 in the U.S. and Europe, but the company has not officially decided on releasing the smartphone in these markets. However, it seems that it will not release in the U.S. mainly because it does not support the U.S. LTE bands, MIUI reported.
Xiaomi had never announced its smartphones at the MWC 2016. However, last week's event at Barcelona was not helpful for the firm to unleash its flagship smartphone but also it provided to showcase its brand internationally.