The Xiaomi Mi 5 is a veteran among the budget flagship handsets, going toe-to-toe with devices like the OnePlus 3 and several others in the market. But the Xiaomi offering has a new rival in the market now in the form of the Lenovo Z2 Plus. A good Rs 5,000 cheaper than the Mi 5, the Z2 Plus can easily take over the crown from Xiaomi. So how do they fare against each other in terms of hardware? Let's have a look.
Design:
When it comes to design, there is no doubt that the Mi 5 is leagues ahead of the Z2 Plus. The slightly contoured back panel and the premium metal body gives it a flagship like appearance, something that's lacking from the Z2 Plus. Lenovo has stuck to a more simplistic design, deciding to let the internal hardware do the talking instead.
Display:
The Mi 5 is sporting a 5.15-inch 1080p display on board, while the Z2 Plus is equipped with a 5-inch display with the same resolution. Although the pixel density is expected to be higher on the Z2 Plus, the Mi 5 has a better screen-to-body ratio thanks to the slim bezels. This means that the width of the two phones are nearly identical even though the Mi 5 has a bigger display on board.
Camera:
Xiaomi is using a 16MP f/2.0 rear sensor with 4-axis OIS or optical image stabilization. There's a dual tone LED flash as well, which should be enough to light up any dimly lit room. On the front, Xiaomi is using a 4MP camera sensor with an aperture size of f/2.0.
The Z2 Plus, on the other hand, is using a 13MP camera sensor on the back, with an aperture size of f/2.2. Even though it's an ISOCELL sensor, we don't think it would fare better than the Xiaomi Mi 5. The front comes equipped with an 8MP f/2.0 selfie camera.
Performance:
This is an area where both phones are on level pegging. Both Xiaomi and Lenovo are using the quad-core Snapdragon 820 chipset, but with slightly different clock speeds. The Mi 5 (Standard Edition) is using two Kryo cores of 1.8 GHz and two Kryo cores 1.36 GHz. The Z2 Plus, in comparison, uses two Kryo cores of 2.15 GHz and two Kryo cores of 1.6 GHz, basically giving it a slight edge over the Xiaomi offering.
Battery:
The Lenovo Z2 Plus has a 3,500mAh battery while Xiaomi is settling for a standard 3,000mAh unit. Although battery performance is heavily dependent on the OS optimizations done by the OEMs, one would assume that Lenovo would have the upper hand here.
Other features:
Both phones are packing a fingerprint scanner on the front as well as a USB Type-C port. This means that there's not much to differentiate between the two in terms of additional features. Both devices are running customized versions of Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow on board, with an update to Android 7.0 Nougat expected to be available over the coming months.
Pricing and availability:
The Xiaomi Mi 5 is available from Flipkart or mi.com without requiring any pre-registrations or flash sales. So you're free to get one right away and have it delivered in the coming days. The handset is only available in a 32GB storage + 3GB RAM variant, though, which is priced at Rs 22,999.
The Lenovo Z2 Plus is an Amazon exclusive in the country and is available in two variants. The 32GB storage + 3GB RAM variant is priced at Rs 17,999 while the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant will set you back by Rs 19,999. The handset will be available through an open sale starting 12AM on the 26th of September.
(Main Image: Gsmarena.com)
