Xiaomi Mi 5s review: SD821 flagship with an ultrasonic fingerprint and metal unibody.
A value SD821 flagship.
Mi 5s brought the SD821, a metal unibody and an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor to $300 in 2016 — a strong value flagship of its day.
01Display
62/10062/100 trails the 65-point cohort average for flagship phones of 2016.
02Camera
60/10060/100 puts it above the 57-point average for flagship phones of 2016.
03Performance
64/100At 64/100 this is one of the strongest performance showings among flagship phones of 2016 — 13 points above the cohort average.
04Battery
64/10064/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2016.
05Build
70/10070/100 — right at the average for flagship phones of 2016.
06Value
72/10072/100 puts it above the 67-point average for flagship phones of 2016.
- SD821 at $300.
- Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor.
- Metal unibody + IR.
- Quick Charge 3.0.
- Small 4 MP selfie.
- 1080p LCD.
- Mono speaker.
- Support ended.
How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 3-phone cohort of flagship devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .