Chinese tech giant Xiaomi on Sunday unveiled its smartphone with a 5G modem at a press conference on the eve of the Mobile World Congress (MWC2019).

With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 system and Qualcomm's X50 5G modem, the new model Mi Mix 3 will be sold at 449 euros (around 510 U.S. dollars) and will be available from May in two colors "Onyx Black and Sapphire Blue", Xiaomi announced at the press conference.

It also has a sliding front facing camera, as well as two cameras on the back, which allow users to shoot slow motion video at 960 frames per second.

During the presentation, Xiaomi's Director of Product Management Donovan Sung used the device for a video call with one of the company's Spanish partners, Orange Spain, in what was the first ever video call made publically using a Xiaomi 5G device.

Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon delivered a speech at the event, in which he insisted that 5G networks, were no longer the future but the present of mobile communications.

"5G is here. Not in 2020, not in late 2020, it's here right now in 2019. 2019 is the year of 5G," he claimed, hinting that the launch of 5G devices will be quickly followed by the rollout of commercial 5G services by the second half of 2019.

"5G will improve substantially how we think about our phones. Everything will get better," said Amon, adding that the power of the cloud for every app and service will thus be unleashed.

Sunday's event also saw the launch of another Xiaomi product, the Mi LED Smart Bulb, which is a connected light bulb that allows users to control light color and brightness from their phones.

Xiaomi now has around 2,000 branded products and 224 million clients with its products available in many Asian markets and some European markets, such as Spain, Britain, France and Italy, according to Xiaomi.

The Mobile World Congress (MWC2019) will open in Barcelona on Monday, with around 110,000 visitors being expected. 

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