Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun says will roll out a dozen 5G phones next year

Xiaomi has launched 5G phones like the Mi 9 Pro 5G this year, and the company is planning to bring the 5G connectivity to more people next year.

Speaking at the sidelines of the sixth World Internet Conference on Sunday in Wuzhen, Zhejiang, Xiaomi chairman and CEO Lei Jun said Xiaomi plan to roll out more than 10 5G phones covering the middle and high-end markets next year.

Lei said 5G is what he is most interested in and his tests showed the 5G speed at Wuzhen can go up to 800 Mbp, “I think this speed is OK.”

Xiaomi announced on September 24 the Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G, which builds up on the foundation of the Mi 9 series, adding the fastest processing package around, 30W wireless charging, and an improved camera.

The device is powered by the Snapdragon 855 Plus processor, an improved version of the omnipresent Snapdragon 855 that offers a 15% increase in graphics performance.

Memory and storage are top notch. The phone is available in 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB, 12GB+256GB, and 12GB+512GB configurations.

The big deal about the Xiaomi Mi 9 Pro 5G is it supports 5G, and the price is far from expensive.

In true Xiaomi tradition, the base version of the phone is very affordable, at 3,699 yuan (~$520). That’s way cheaper than any other previous devices supporting 5G. Xiaomi says the phone can download data at up to 1.78Gbps in its field tests, though the usual caveats related to network availability apply.

Speaking at today’s event, Lei said demand for its 5G phones exceeded expectations and he is now worried that 4G phones might have difficulty to sell next year. “I hope telecom operators could speed up their 5G deployment.”