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Xiaomi Mi5 tipped with unreleased Snapdragon 820 chip

Xiaomi’s next flagship smartphone might ship with the fast-approaching Snapdragon 820 chip, a new report has claimed.

According to prolific rumour-spinner Leaksfly (via Mobile-Dad), the Chinese manufacturer plans to include the processor on its upcoming, but unconfirmed, Mi5 handset.

The report claims we’ll see the handset announced in early November, packing a chip that doesn’t currently exist.

Qualcomm’s current flagship system-on-a-chip is the Snapdragon 810, which first appeared on smartphones – including the LG G Flex 2 and Sony Xperia Z3+ – earlier this year.

Around that time, we began seeing leaks about the Snapdragon 820, although details were light.

Then in March, Qualcomm finally announced the Snapdragon 820 was in development, and will make use of the mysterious ‘Kyro’ 64-bit CPU core.

According to Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 820 will be built with either a 14nm or 16nm manufacturing process, and will begin sampling to manufacturers in the second half of this year.

That gels with the rumour about the late 2015 Xiaomi Mi5 release, although we can’t say for certain that the chip will be ready in time.

Related: Best Android Smartphones 2015

So what else should we expect from the Mi5? Rumours point to a 5.5-inch QHD display crafted from sapphire, for starters.

It’s also expected that we’ll see 4GB of RAM, a 16/20-megapixel rear-facing camera, a fingerprint scanner, and a USB-C port.

USB-C is a burgeoning connection standard for mobile devices, and will likely roll out across a host of flagship devices in the coming year.

Apple recently adopted the port on its new MacBook, and we’ve already seen a phone make use of the port too.

Unfortunately, it’s still not clear whether Xiaomi will even release the Mi5 outside of China, so don’t bank on a UK launch just yet.

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