Earlier today, Xiaomi unveiled its much anticipated flagship phone for 2016: the Mi 5. The handset has been launched after almost 2 years since the launch of the Mi 4, but that wait seems to have been worth it. 

The Mi 5 is a huge upgrade over its predecessor in almost every way, and the combination of a metal chassis and 3D glass/ceramic makes it a looker. Under the hood also, the Mi 5 packs in some serious horsepower, gadgetry and innovation. If you are wondering what exactly are the key differences between the Mi 4 and Mi 5 are, read below.

• The Mi 4 only features a metallic chassis, while the Mi 5 features a metallic chassis with a 3D glass/ceramic back and front. The ‘Pro’ variant of the handset uses the more premium ceramic back, while the other variants use a curved glass
• The Mi 5 is significantly lighter and slimmer than the Mi 4: 129g and 7.25mm vs. 149g and 8.9mm
• The Mi 5 features a slightly larger 5.15-inch display, and yet it has a better screen-to-body ratio than its predecessor
  • The display also features 16 LEDs that allow it to reach brightness levels of as high as up to 600 nits
  • The Pro variant of the Mi 5 comes with a powerful
• Xiaomi has used a Snapdragon 820 chipset inside the Mi 5
  • The 64-bit chip is significantly faster than the 32-bit Snapdragon 801 chip found inside the Mi 4
  • It also features a more powerful Adreno 530 GPU and a powerful ISP
• Xiaomi only offered the Mi 4 in 16GB and 64GB storage options, but the Mi 5 will be available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB storage options
  • It also uses UFS 2.0 NAND storage chips that is significantly faster than eMMC based memory chips
• The Mi 4 featured 3GB RAM, while the Pro variant of the Mi 5 comes with 4GB RAM
• The Mi 5 supports 4G+ for download speeds of up to 600Mbps — far faster than the Mi 4
• The Mi 5 comes with a higher resolution 16MP shooter (vs. 13MP on Mi 4)
  • The camera also features 4-axis stabilisation and comes with two-tone dual-LED flash
  • It uses Sony’s latest IMX297 sensor that comes with PDAF and DTI (Deep Trench Isolation)
  • To help in those rare situations when you use the flash, the Mi 5 features a two-tone dual-LED flash
  • The camera sensor is protected by a sapphire glass on the Mi 5, which makes it scratch resistant
  • The resolution of the front camera has been reduced to 4MP (vs. 8MP), but it now features larger 2.0u pixels
• The battery capacity of the Mi 5 has gone down slightly when compared to Mi 4: 3000mAh vs. 3080mAh
  • It now features Quick Charge 3.0, so it can charge faster when compared to the Mi 4
• While both phones run on MIUI 7, the version on Mi 5 is based on Android 6.0 Marshmallow
• The Mi 5 will be available in three different variants and configurations: 32GB storage/3GB RAM, 64GB storage/3GB RAM and 128GB storage/4GB RAM
  • The 32GB variant comes with a slower 1.8GHz Snapdragon 820 chipset, while the chip is clocked at 2.15GHz on other variants
  • The Mi 4 was only offered in two variants from Xiaomi with different storage space: 16GB and 64GB

The Mi 5 is all set to go on sale in China from March 11, with its prices starting from RMB1699. The handset will be available in White, Black and Gold colors, unlike the Mi 5, which was only available in two colors.