SpecEagle review · Xiaomi

Xiaomi Mi 5s review: SD821 flagship with an ultrasonic fingerprint and metal unibody.

SpecEagle Editorial·Sep 2016·$300
Overall
60/100
Class rank
#69 of 109
Tier
Flagship
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

A value SD821 flagship.

Mi 5s brought the SD821, a metal unibody and an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to $300 in 2016 — a strong value flagship of its day.

01Display

62/100

62/100 is one of the weaker display results among flagship phones of 2016 — 14 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

TypeIPS LCD, 60 Hz
Size5.15 inches
Resolution1,920 × 1,080 px

02Camera

60/100

60/100 is one of the weaker camera results among flagship phones of 2016 — 10 points under the average. Check the rows below before buying for this.

Main12 MP Sony IMX378, f/2.0
Selfie4 MP

03Performance

64/100

64/100 trails the 68-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2016.

ChipsetSnapdragon 821 (14 nm)
RAM3 / 4 GB
Storage64 / 128 GB

04Battery

64/100

64/100 trails the 67-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2016.

Capacity3,200 mAh
Wired18 W Quick Charge 3.0

05Build

70/100

70/100 trails the 75-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2016.

06Value

72/100

At 72/100 this is one of the strongest value showings among flagship phones of 2016 — 12 points above the cohort average.

What works
  • SD821 at $300.
  • Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
  • Metal unibody + IR.
  • Quick Charge 3.0.
What doesn't
  • Small 4 MP selfie.
  • 1080p LCD.
  • Mono speaker.
  • Support ended.
Cross-shop it against
Pixel 2 (2017)
$649 · score 88/100

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 109-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .