Xiaomi Mi 5 Smartphone to Get Fingerprint Scanner: Report

Xiaomi is making its presence felt in the Indian smartphone market by launching new, affordable handsets. After the recent release of Mi 4i in India, the Chinese tech company is tipped to bring Mi 4's successor Mi 5, which will be its next flagship smartphone. To keep pace with its rivals, Xiaomi is reportedly planning to add enhanced security standards with fingerprint scanning technology to Mi 5.

Although there is no credible evidence that the next flagship smartphone by Xiaomi will pack fingerprint scanner, a patent filing by the company with the Chinese authorities adds credibility to the rumour. According to the filing in China's State Intellectual Property Office, which was obtained by MyDrivers, the smartphone's capacitive buttons are said to house the new tech. This is quite surprising, as fingerprint scanner is usually seen integrated within physical keys in handsets such as Samsung Galaxy S6, Apple iPhone 6 and others.

The patent filing also reveals that an additional layer of glass will protect the embedded sensor and its components, similar to what Apple has done in iPhone 6 by covering its Home button with Sapphire glass, Mobiletor reports.

There is no direct reference to Mi 5 in the internal document, but Xiaomi is widely rumoured to have the Mi 4 successor in the pipeline. The new handset is expected to be released in the fourth quarter this year.

As for the rumoured specs, the Mi 5 smartphone is said to feature a 5.2-inch Quad HD or 2K display with 1440 x 2560 pixel screen resolution. Xiaomi will use a 2.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 805 SoC to power up the phone with Adreno 420 and 3GB RAM. There will be two variants of Mi 5, with 16GB and 64GB storage options and a 3,600mAh battery. The cameras are expected to come with 16MP rear sensor and 8MP front sensor with some latest technology.

Until Xiaomi confirms the existence of the next flagship, these specifications are nothing more than just rumours.