The much-awaited release of Xiaomi's next flagship smartphone, the Mi5, might have been pegged to be released before the end of the year. 

GizmoChina quotes the China-based company's CEO Lei Jun as saying that Xiaomi is preparing at least six prototypes before the actual device is developed, hinting that the design for the new Mi5 is already finished. The report also pertains to the CEO's Weibo post showing all prototypes for all their company's products. However, Xiaomi has yet to issue an official statement announcing the release of the company's Mi5 smartphone. 

Meanwhile, the Internet is coming alive with the buzz on what features will be present in Xiaomi's newest flagship device. According to rumors, the LTE-ready Mi5 will be a 5.5-inch device with IPS LCD touchscreen, a resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels, and will feature a dual-cam option in 16 megapixels for the back and 8 megapixels for the front. The Mi5 will be powered by a quad-core 2.7 GHz Krait 450 processor on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 chipset. It will have 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB internal storage, and would most likely be expandable via microSD card. However, some sites indicate the Mi5 to instead have an upgraded Snapdragon 810 octa-core processor to handle Ultra HD and 4k videos. 

Since most users are getting used to having their smartphones with them wherever they may be, and also to be on par with other devices, it was also said that the Mi5 will boast an IP67 rating. This means that Xiaomi's latest might come out as one of the best water resistant devices in the smartphone market. 

The Mi5 will also reportedly sport other upgrades, such as a USB 3.0 having OTG connectivity, variants in black and white, and an upgraded 3200 mAh battery, giving it a longer life.