LeEco has recently unveiled its latest flagship smartphone, the LeEco Le Max 2 at an event in Beijing in June this year. The Le Max 2 was introduced alongside the new Le 2 and Le 2 Pro smartphone models. As is very apparent, the new LeEco Le Max 2 is the successor of the Le Max that launched in January 2016 in the Indian market. The Le Max 2 packs in great specs and superb new features to make things even better. Post its Indian launch, it will rival against the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the likes. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is already available in India and has made its mark as a superb affordable premium smartphone.
Now, both the Xiaomi Mi 5 and the LeEco Le Max 2 are aimed at offering great premium smartphone experience to the users while being very affordable at the same time. So, you get to pay the price of just a mid-ranger while choosing any of these, while actually getting the benefit of a flagship smartphone model in terms of looks, features and functionalities. However, which of these two new devices is worthier?
We will try to find that out here:
Design & Display
The LeEco Le Max 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 5 are completely different when it comes to design and build. The LeEco Le Max 2 has a refined all-metal premium design to offer great screen to body ratio. The Xiaomi Mi 5 is based upon the design language of the Mi Note series, which is also undoubtedly premium and stunning. It comes with a glass and ceramic construction with curved edges.
The Mi 5 with its nice curves is very comfortable to hold in hand, which the Le Max 2 lacks a bit because of its large size and sharp design. However, both are beautiful with premium appeal, so both are great to go for.
Le Max 2 is a phablet and features a large 5.7 inch Quad HD display, while the Mi 5 flaunts a more compact 5.15 inch 1080 pixel screen. Both the screens though different in size are brilliant to look at and very sharp and vibrant. The Mi 5 also has a Sunlight Display technology that heightens its outdoor visibility that make it superior.
Hardware
Both the devices are equipped with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chipset. The Mi 5 comes with 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM variants (only 3 GB version in available in India), while the Le Max 2 comes with 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM models to choose from. Thus, the Le Max 2 offers the convenience of a humongous 6 GB of RAM support that will be a boon for heavy multitaskers, although we don’t know if it will come to India.
Software & Connectivity
Both the new smartphones run on the new Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS out of the box topped with their respective custom UIs. The Mi 5 gets Xiaomi’s MIUI 7 which is highly praised, while the Le Max 2 gets topped with the eUI 5.8 skin.
Both the devices offer the convenience of dual-SIM cards and has the connectivity options of 4G LTE, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, VoLTE, NFC and GPS.
Add-on Features
The LeEco Le Max 2 and the Xiaomi Mi 5 are again quite different in this category. The first noticeable thing in the Le Max 2 is the lack of the 3.5 mm headphone jack and only offers a USB Type-C port. LeEco launched a new Continual Digital Lossless Audio (CDLA) standard that claims to offer high quality sound through the USB Type-C port. On the other hand, the Mi 5 offers a regular headphone jack, but lacks the latest CDLA standard.
Both the phones also offer fingerprint sensors. While the fingerprint sensor is placed up front on the Mi 5, it is positioned at the rear of the Le Max 2. The Le Max 2 boasts of a more accurate ultrasonic fingerprint sensor that should work better even with oily or wet fingers.
Cameras
The Le Max 2 boasts a 21 MP primary shooter that comes with a Sony IMX230 sensor, phase detection autofocus and LED flash. The Mi 5 features a 16 MP primary camera with 4-axis OIS and phase detection autofocus.
The Le Max 2 flaunts an 8 MP front facing camera, while the Mi 5 gets a 4 MP selfie shooter. However, the Mi 5’s front camera has bigger 2µm pixels that offer equally good pictures.
Battery & Storage
The LeEco Le Max 2 draws its power from a 3100 mAh non-removable battery, while the Xiaomi Mi 5 gets packed with a 3000 mAh non-removable battery on the Mi 5. Both have similar batteries and should offer similar backup. Both the devices also come with the convenience of USB-Type C ports with fast charging support.
The Mi 5 is available in three storage option variants – 32 GB, 64 GB, 128 GB, while only the base 32 GB model is offered in India. The Le Max 2 would be offered with 32 GB and 64 GB on board memory options. Both the handsets don’t offer microSD card support.
Pricing & Availability
The Xiaomi Mi 5 that is only available in 3GB RAM/32GB variant in India is priced at Rs. 24,999 and is offered only through flash sales on Xiaomi’s website. On the other hand, LeEco has not disclosed the pricing or availability details of the new Le Max 2 for the Indian market yet. However, it is expected to be priced at around Rs. 21,500 onwards based on its Chinese pricing. The LeEco Le Max 2 should hit the Indian market in a few weeks’ time.
Conclusion
The very capable Xiaomi Mi 5 will find the new LeEco Le Max 2 a real tough competitor. While both are equally capable, the LeEco Le Max 2 does have the advantage of more RAM power, high MP cameras and a larger display. Now, its success will depend on how competitively it is priced. It will also be interesting, if LeEco launches both the variants of the Le Max 2 in India.
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