The flagship devices Galaxy A7 (2016) from Samsung and Mi 5 from Xiaomi are expected to be released in the upcoming weeks.
This leaves smartphone users who are willing to upgrade to new handsets a choice of two impressive phones that are going neck-to-neck in the market. Both boasting a handful of exciting features, it's interesting to know which one emerges as the winner.
Xiaomi Mi 5 is expected to be launched in January 2016, while Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) might be pushed to Q1 of 2016.
Display
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) features a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen with 1080 x 1920 pixel resolution while Xiaomi Mi 5 features slightly larger screen of 5.7-inch IPS LCD display with a 1440 x 2560 pixel resolution, both giving much crisp and clear images. Both the phones' display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 4.
Platform
While both the phones run on Android Lollipop v5.1.1, Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) works on two kinds of CPUs: for the American and Chinese model, the latest Snapdragon Qualcomm 820 is used, and for other markets including Europe, Korea and Japan, the phone will have Samsung's own 64-bit Octa Core Exynos 8890 SoC. The Xiaomi Mi 5, on the other hand, will run on Snapdragon Qualcomm 820 CPU.
Snapdragon claims that its newest SoC (System on Chip) is 30 percent more power efficient and 35 percent faster than the Snapdragon 810 processor.
Camera, Touch Sensitivity and Memory
Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016) camera's sensor comes from Sony's much appreciated IMX300 and will outshine the visuals captured from Mi 5. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is learnt to capture videos at 2160p@30fps and 1080p@60fps.
Samsung will be using Clear Touch technology, similar to the Apple's 3D Force Touch technology, while Mi 5 will use its own version of 3D touch with pressure sensitive display.
Samsung's Galaxy A7 (2016) comes with 16GB internal memory with an option to increase it to 64GB via microSD with 3GB of RAM, while Xiaomi Mi 5 comes with 64GB internal storage with no option to increase memory capacity but features 4GB of RAM.