Xiaomi Mi 5c release date, specs rumors: leaked info suggests octa-core Pinecone chip, to be released this week

Jessica Ferrera Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is speculated to launch their newest budget phone Mi 5c. | Reuters/Jason Lee

Xiaomi's upcoming budget phone, Mi 5c, is speculated to sport an in-house processing chip called Pinecone and to be released to the market this week.

Online news source Xiaomi Today obtained a leaked information sheet that reportedly says the Xiaomi Mi 5c will be equipped with the system-on-chip (SoC) octa-core Pinecone processor with a clock speed frequency of 2.5-gigahertz (GHz).

The Pinecone will be paired with ample 3 GB random-access memory (RAM) and built-in 64 GB internal memory storage. The specs sheet also indicates that Xiaomi Mi 5c will run with MIUI 8 supported by Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

As for its hardware specs, Xiaomi Mi 5c might be released with 12-megapixels (MP) rear sensor coupled with an 8 MP front camera. Its 5.5-inch screen will feature 2.5D glass work. The budget smartphone is also speculated to feature a fingerprint scanner embedded on the home screen. Xiaomi Mi 5c will also feature a near-field communication support for connectivity.

Meanwhile, according to IB Times, the upcoming Xiaomi budget phone codenamed Meri will also be powered with Mali-T860 MP4 for the graphics processing unit (GPU).

The same report noted that Xiaomi's very own processing chip, Pinecone, scored fairly well in the single-core and multi-core tests with 758 points and 3,105 points, respectively. The processing chip scored 63,000 in the AnTuTu benchmark, which is pretty standard for budget phones like Mi 5c.

Xiaomi Today had also previously obtained a leaked poster for the Mi 5c carrying the mobile device's price. In the said presale poster, Xiaomi Mi 5c is priced 999 Chinese Yuan or around $145.

Reports say that Xiaomi Mi 5c will possibly be in competition with another budget phone dubbed the Charm Blue X produced by Meizu, another Chinese consumer electronics company.

Though Xiaomi is yet to confirm the release of Xiaomi Mi 5c, reports are speculating that the upcoming smartphone will be launched on Wednesday, Nov. 30.