OnePlus 2: The bar has been raised; will the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 5 deliver?

The year hasn’t been particularly easy for OnePlus. Despite the grand success of the OnePlus One, the company did face challenges, particularly the **Cyanogen OS tussle with Micromax** , and the stiff competition from Xiaomi and other players. Looks like it has put all of that behind and emerged with a new refreshing look. To begin with, the VR launch had almost everything needed for a flagship launch, be it company harping, fans, drama and most importantly a solid product to justify all of that. Yes, the OnePlus 2 has nailed it. At the price point, it could put some flagships to shame.  The OnePlus 2 sports a 5.5-inch 1080p display, Snapdragon 810 camera, 13MP camera and plush metallic looks. The company kept to its words offers a fingerprint scanner, USB Type-C and a refreshing new OS.  You will also get 4G support on both slots of this dual SIM smartphone. Know about the  **detailed specs of the OnePlus 2 here** . The 16GB Oneplus 2 model is priced at Rs 22,999 and the 64GB model comes at Rs 24,999. The company has also made it clear that India is one of its important market as the 64Gb model is set to come on August 11, followed by the 16GB model later this year. At that price and those specs, there is no other device competing with the OnePlus 2. However, its arch rival Xiaomi, which has gained immense popularity in India, is all set to bring in the Xiami Mi 5. Let’s take a look at the existing flagships from both companies, to know how far Xiaomi has to tread to come up with solid device to compete with the OnePlus 2.  Xiaomi needs to bring more to the table to outshine the OnePlus 2. So far, different reports have been pointing at different specs for the Mi 5. From a 5-inch to 5.2-inch display, Snapdragon 810 to the latest 820 and so on. However, we haven’t been hearing much about a fingerprint scanner or a USB Type C, which could help it compete with the OnePlus 2. The OnePlus also has the added advantage of elegant looks and peppy swap-able back covers. Moreover, it dared to do something new and unique and managed it pretty well. Moreover, it is among the first to bring high-end features like the US Type-C connector.  There are rumours about **Samsung Note 5** and the leaked **Galaxy S6 Edge Plus** also sporting the **USB Type-C connector** , but we really don’t expect these device to be priced even remotely close to the price tag the OnePlus 2 carries. But nothing is confirmed yet by Samsung. So far only the new Apple Macbook sports the USB Type-C connector. USB Type-C will most likely be the future connector of choice, as it not only lets you charge your device, but also transfer data at double the throughput as a regular USB 3.0. On the Macbook, the USB-Type C connector can also used as a video out port. Thanks to the port being reversible in nature, you can connect charging cable blindly to your device. Another notable feature is the high-end 64-bit Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor clocked at 1.8Ghz. It’s clocked at a lower frequency to reduce heating of the device. However, it should be noted that the company is the first to bring the processor at such a low price. We’ve seen 810 in high-end phone such as the **Sony Xperia z3+** priced more than double at Rs 56,000. Though the recent benchmark leaks have revealed that the OnePlus 2 may not surpass flagships like the Galaxy S6 when it comes to performance, it definitely has no competition when it comes to the Rs 20k to Rs 25k price bracket. The smartphones that now fall in the Rs 20,oo0 to Rs 25,000 include the **Moto X second-generation** powered by **Snapdragon 801** , and the Samsung Galaxy S5 among others. Competing merely spec-by-spec won’t be enough and Xiaomi will now have to deliver an exciting user experience to steal the show from OnePlus!