The Xiaomi Mi 5 is a phone that, statistically, most of you probably will not be able to buy through official channels if you read this website. While it will be available in two massive markets - namely, China and India - the rest of the world will once again be sitting on the sidelines for the launch of Xiaomi's latest and greatest low-cost but powerful mass-market smartphone. Xiaomi is expected to expand its list of markets at some point with the Mi 5, but the general assumption is that expansion will still be restricted to Asia or other emerging markets for the time being. (Of course, we have no official word from Xiaomi as to where it plans to "expand" its distribution - it just seems wholly unlikely they'd miss their chance to announce a major global push at MWC.)

The Mi 5 is, as you would expect, the company's most powerful phone yet, and the price is absolutely jaw-dropping: around $305 (1999 RMB) for 32GB of storage, a Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB of RAM, LTE, 5.15" 1080p LCD, 3000mAh battery, fingerprint sensor, Quick Charge 3.0 (with USB C), 16MP rear camera with 4K video, and NFC. It's basically a laundry list of in-demand phone specifications that makes you wonder why we'd care about more obviously compromised competitors like the OnePlus 2 or Moto X Pure Edition.

Of course, the Mi 5 doesn't run stock Android. The heavily skinned MIUI is loved by many of Xiaomi's millions of fans, but Nexus Warriors probably would be less enthused by its heavy-handed modifications. And given the intense focus on MIUI features and services over underlying Android ones, there probably isn't much impetus inside Xiaomi to be steadfast about Android OS updates post-purchase. Other than that? Xiaomi's products are incredibly hard to criticize in a major way. A Xiaomi device running stock Android could very well steamroll Nexus handsets for sales in official markets, and it's very easy to see why with that kind of pricing.

The Mi 5 is available for around $305 in 32GB trim, $350 for 64GB (2299 RMB), and $415 (2699 RMB) for the 128GB range-topping ceramic model that throws in an extra gigabyte of RAM (4GB total). So, would you buy one? Sure, gray market devices are available, but they're always marked up in price, and that really defeats the appeal of the Mi 5. If Xiaomi could sell it at roughly equivalent prices as those in China where you live, would you be saddling up with MIUI instead of stock Android?