People stand near a logo of Xiaomi ahead of the launching ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014.

People stand near a logo of Xiaomi ahead of the launching ceremony of Xiaomi Phone 4, in Beijing, July 22, 2014. Reuters/Jason Lee

The whole world is waiting for Xiaomi to announce the Mi 5. However, in the midst of Xiaomi Mi 5 rumours, fresh news has arrived indicating that the Chinese firm will expand its portfolio by entering fields like virtual reality and robotics this year.

According to G for Games, the CEO of Xiaomi, Lei Jun, revealed during a recent press meeting that the company plans to enter other business departments like virtual reality and robotics in 2016. The company has also decided to construct a R&D lab since the firm has already started investing in VR and robotics.

It has not been revealed as to what kind of virtual reality products the Chinese firm will manufacture. Speculations suggest it may build virtual reality headsets that can be used with smartphones.

Recently, HTC collaborated with Steam to release the HTC Vive, a topnotch VR headset that has been built for PC games. Speculations are also hinting that Xiaomi may build VR headsets for PC gamers.

VR and robotics is something that the company has aimed to advance in the near future. At present, the smartphone business is its major revenue generating sector. However, a research conducted by TrendForce has revealed that since it did not release a flagship smartphone in 2015, it has lost sizable market share, Android Headlines reported.

As far as the Xiaomi MI 5 release date is concerned, Liwang Jian who is the co-founder of the company has confirmed that the smartphone will be announced in February, Gizmo China reported. The rumour mill has revealed that it will be arriving with a 5.2-inch Quad HD screen, a Snapdragon 820 chipset and 4 GB of RAM.

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It is expected to arrive in two storage editions of 32 GB and 64 GB. It may also feature 16 MP and 8 MP rear and front cameras. Other rumoured specs include a fingerprint scanner and 3600 mAh battery.