Mi 5 and Redmi 3S Prime are the fantastic affordable flagships released by Xiaomi. This review can help you choose, which phone is a better buy for you! 

Redmi 3S Prime vs Mi 5: Design and build

Mi 5 is 16 grams lighter than Redmi 3S Prime. It already has Corning Gorilla Glass 4 at the front and back panel - making it stylish and elegant as well. Both phones sport IPS LCD touchscreen display. The 3S Prime has 5 inch display whilst Mi 5 is 5.15 inch.

In term of the resolution, Redmi 3S Prime offers a decent display and brightness (720 x 1280 pixels and 294 ppi pixel density), GSM Arena wrote. However, Mi 5 offers larger resolution and higher pixel density 428 ppi which obviously results in a better viewing experience. 3S Prime also has MIUI 8 interface, an updated version has more features such as reserving battery better, compared to MIUI 7 in Mi 5 but users can update this to a newer version.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5

Redmi 3S Prime vs Mi 5: Camera

3S Prime packs 13 MP (LED flash, phase detection autofocus). Mi 5 sports 16 MP rear camera that features OIS 4-axis for steady shots, dual LED flash and phase detection autofocus. Mi 5 seems to focus faster than 3S Prime although the difference is not that significant. Mi 5 images are more color-accurate and sharper given the higher megapixels.

Winner: Xiaomi Mi 5

Redmi 3S Prime vs Mi 5: Power and performance

Under the hood of Redmi 3S Prime, Xiaomi squeezes octa-core Snapdragon 430 chipset, 32 GB of internal storage and 3 GB of RAM. Mi 5 packs a quad-core Snapdragon 820 which has substantially higher RAM speed. There are three ROM-RAM options:

128 GB, 4 GB RAM - Pro edition

64 GB, 3 GB RAM - Prime edition

32 GB, 3 GB RAM - Standard

This makes the Mi 5 performs considerably better and faster than the 3S Prime when it comes to multitasking and gaming, especially if user opts for the Pro edition with its highest RAM and internal memory pairing.

The fingerprint scanner on both phones are responsive and fast. The first drawback of Xiaomi Mi 5 would be the low battery capacity of 3,000 mAh compared to Redmi 3S Prime with 4100 mAh battery. The second one would be the limited storage since there is no dedicated slot to place the extra storage.

Winner:

If performance is what matters the most, Xiaomi Mi 5 is the winner

If power is what matters the most without looking further at other performance aspects, Redmi 3S Prime is the winner.