Earlier today, LeTV officially announced the Le Max Pro flagship which is the first Snapdragon 820 powered smartphone in the world. The company revealed only some of the highlighted features of the device like Wi-Fi ad, and Qualcomm’s 3D Sense ID fingerprint sensor. The phone’s release date is not yet known, with the company adding that the release will happen sometime within the first half of 2016.
So, it’s likely that there will be a couple of other Snapdragon 820 powered smartphones that will make it to the market around the same time as Le Max Pro. Among them could be the Xiaomi flagship, Xiaomi Mi 5. The popular IHS analyst from China, Pan Jiutang has revealed via his Weibo account that Xiaomi Mi 5 along with the Vivo XPlay 5S featuring Snapdragon 820 will release by the end of February this year. This is in line with what we heard from Qualcomm Exec last year, that first batch of Snapdragon 820 phones will be available by Q1 2016. Other models featuring this new chip, like Le Max 2 will release later, sometime around May this year.
In another post, he also revealed that the Xiaomi Mi 5 most likely won’t feature Qualcomm’s Sense ID 3D fingerprint sensor. The company reportedly gave up on the sensor at the last minute. Instead, the phone will come with a traditional sensor. However, he adds that the company will probably release a model with Sense ID on board sometime in the second half of 2016. It could be the Mi Note 2, but it’s too early to say, so we better wait for some additional details.
Many readers were disappointed to see that Xiaomi Mi 5’s release was taking time. But given that the phone is expected to release by February end, it’s probably going to be one of the first Snapdragon 820 smartphones to be available in the market.
Meanwhile, you can check out the new renders of the Xiaomi Mi 5 from here.
