Xiaomi 4 VS iPhone 5s: The ultimate showdown: details determine the winner

Xiaomi Mi 4 is finally released. It uses Qualcomm 801 processor, 3GB memory, 3080mAh battery, and austenitic 304 stainless steel frame. Xiaomi Mi 4 continues to lead the flagship smartphone market in the Android camp. What are its advantages over iPhone 5s? Let's take a look.

Austenitic 304 outperforms aluminum alloy

Austenite is actually a structure inside steel. In addition to austenite, there are also martensitic steel, ferritic steel, etc. Compared with these types of steel, austenite is relatively softer, and martensitic and ferritic steels are magnetic and have high processing costs, so their application range is greatly limited. Compared with plastic and magnesium alloy materials, the advantages of austenitic 304 stainless steel are that it has very good mechanical properties, high strength, and can bring a solid feel to the mobile phone.

  Bent 5s and peeling iPhone 5

The reason why the frame of Xiaomi 4 is made of austenitic 304 stainless steel is that it can improve the overall texture and provide a good hand feel. iPhone 4s also uses stainless steel as the frame to improve the overall viewing effect and grip. iPhone5/5s uses aluminum alloy because stainless steel is not easy to color. The advantage is that the color can be more diverse, such as the well-known gold, but the disadvantage is also obvious: it is easy to get scratches and potholes. The reason why Xiaomi 4 dares to use austenitic 304, which is not easy to color, seems to have solved the problem of coloring the steel surface.

Bright edge, a detail that is easily overlooked

The bright edge design of the phone frame is not only to improve the visual effect and make the phone look thinner, but also to increase the contact area with the palm, improve the hand feel and make it more comfortable to hold. According to the introduction of this press conference, the width of Xiaomi 4's bright edge (some people in the industry also call it the metal chamfer of the frame) is 1.35mm, while the iPhone 4s is only 0.28mm, and the iPhone 5/5s is 0.26mm.

Xiaomi 4 vs iPhone 4s bright edge width

The bright edges of Xiaomi 4 have gone through rough polishing, medium polishing, mirror polishing, 12 minutes of precision grinding, 45 minutes of ultrasonic cleaning and drying, a total of 13 processes and 6 hours of production. The final result is a brighter edge width than iPhone4s, iPhone5/5s, which greatly improves the visual effect and grip feel, and is known as the brightest corner design currently available.  

Screen saturation up to 84%

The main feature of Xiaomi 4 is its high color saturation, which can reach 84% in NTSC color gamut test, close to the color space of Adobe RGB, while the color gamut of iPhone 5s is only 72%. In other words, Xiaomi 4 has a higher screen saturation and a wider color gamut. The pictures displayed by Xiaomi 4 are redder, greener and bluer.

Color gamut comparison between Xiaomi 4 and iPhone 5s

In addition, by comparing the effects of iPhone 5s and Xiaomi 4 after the screen is turned off, it can be clearly seen that after the screen of iPhone 5s is turned off, it can be clearly seen that the screen is not pure black, and the screen and the frame can be distinguished at a glance; while after the screen of Xiaomi 4 is turned off, the black of the screen and the frame are completely integrated, and the existence of the screen can only be seen at a certain viewing angle.

Xiaomi 4 and iPhone 5s screen-off effect comparison

If you take apart the screen of iPhone 5s, you will find that it is made of glass, plastic frame and metal frame. The width of the plastic frame is 0.4mm. When designing the screen of Xiaomi 4, the 0.4mm plastic frame was replaced with a 0.05mm edge coating. The advantage of this is that the screen frame can be designed to be narrower, making the screen ratio larger.

Comparison summary:

From the frame material point of view, the reason why Apple chose aluminum alloy is more to consider the surface coloring needs of materials such as "Gold" and "Space Gray", but the soft aluminum alloy is more likely to leave scratches and potholes. In comparison, the austenite 304 used in Xiaomi 4 has extremely high strength and overcomes the difficulty of surface coloring. The large-area bright edge design also further enhances the appearance of the phone, increases the contact area with the palm, and feels better. In addition, Xiaomi 4 performs well in screen display effect and screen frame width, especially when the screen is completely turned off, the black of the screen is almost integrated with the frame, and the visual effect is exciting.

In general, at a price of around 2,000 yuan, Xiaomi 4 is definitely the best choice when buying a new phone; at a price of around 5,000 yuan, Apple will always be the home court.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.