The first new flagship smartphone in over a year from China’s Xiaomi packs technology to match the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S7, but at around half the price.

The Mi 5 is based around the Snapdragon 820 processor, the latest mobile chip from Qualcomm, has a 5.1-inch screen, up to 128GB of storage and a 16-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Use of the Snapdragon 820 chip makes the phone fast, said Hugo Barra, vice president of international at Xiaomi.

And indeed it did feel fast and zippy in a quick hands-on at the launch, but that experience isn’t necessarily typical of the experience users will encounter after apps have been loaded and the storage becomes full of photos. A true verdict on its speed will have to wait.

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