IN the race to trim down bezels and maximize every inch of screen available, there’s no shortage of near-borderless, 18:9 phones on the market. And Xiaomi could be adding one more to the bunch.

Actual images of the upcoming Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 have been posted online, first on China’s Weibo social-media site. These photos, if authentic, give us our best look yet at the company’s big-screen budget smartphone, which might be priced for as low as 999 yuan (approximately P7,730 or $151) for the base model with 3GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.

The unit in question features a radically different look. The screen, tipped to be at least 5.5 inches, has a minimal frame, and there are dual cameras round the metal back, above the fingerprint reader.

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Notice that the front doesn’t have any hardware buttons, hinting at the use of Android’s software navigation panel. The volume and power keys are located along the right edge of the device. Neither of the photos show the charging connector, but it’s likely that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 will come with a USB-C port.

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It’s been reported that the phone will be based around Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 660 platform, but it’s also possible that it will come with a MediaTek Helio P25 processor. We’ve seen both in action; either one will be fine.

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As for those rear cameras, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 will reportedly sport 16- and 5-megapixel cameras, with the latter contributing depth information to produce blurred backgrounds in portrait mode.

A launch date hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it could be just around the corner.

Main image via Akket

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