Xiaomi has finally launched its much-awaited Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus smartphones in China. The Chinese tech giant, popularly known as 'Apple of China', on Tuesday launched its two new flagship smartphones - the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus - in Beijing.

Lei Jun, Xiaomi co-founder and chief executive officer, introduced the Mi 5s as world's first smartphone with an ultrasound fingerprint scanner at the product launch event in Beijing. Lei also took a swipe at Xiaomi's rivals Apple and Samsung, saying that the Mi 5s's camera features are much better than its rival handsets.

"We were aiming to challenge Samsung and Apple in camera capability. With the Mi 5S, I believe we beat both of them," he said.

Lei revealed that the latest Xiaomi flagship smartphone would be available at a starting price of 1,999 yuan ( approx. $299). Both devices will be available via a flash sale from Thursday on Xiaomi's official e-commerce platform Mi.com and JD.com.

Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus Specifications and Comparison

The Mi 5s and the Mi 5s Plus smartphones are powered by the 2.15GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor and runs on the Android 6.0 operating system with MIUI 8.

The Mi 5s is available in two models: one with 3GB RAM/64GB internal storage and another with 4GB RAM/128GB internal memory. The Mi 5s Plus also comes in two versions: one with 4GB RAM/64GB internal memory and another with 6GB RAM/128 GB internal storage.

The Xiaomi Mi 5s comes with a 5.15-inch full high definition display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. The Mi 5s Plus, on the other hand, has 5.7-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels. Both devices feature four megapixels front cameras. The Mi 5s comes with a 12 megapixels single rear camera while Mi 5s Plus features dual 13 megapixels rear camera.