Xiaomi has launched the Xiaomi Smart Door Lock 5C Cat Eye Edition in China. The big change is that the door now locks itself as soon as it closes. It also has an AI camera built into the peephole and supports up to 11 unlock methods, with a starting price just under 1,000 yuan after subsidies.
Auto-locking and anti-forced-entry design
Close the door and it locks. There’s no handle to lift. A built-in clutch drives the mechanism, and the lock uses a through-type C-grade cylinder that Xiaomi says is meant to resist forced entry, like prying off the front panel or pushing the outer handle down.
Sensors also look for unusual activity. Leave the door slightly open and the lock sounds an alarm, which is handy if you tend to wonder afterward whether you actually shut it.
AI peephole camera
The camera outside does some of the watching for you. When someone walks by or lingers, it grabs a snapshot or starts live video. The sensitivity is adjustable, so a neighbor passing every ten minutes doesn’t have to trigger a notification each time.
New this time: cover the lens and the lock notices, then sounds an alarm.
The hardware is modest but sensible. It’s a 1MP sensor behind a 160° ultra-wide lens, with full-color night vision in low light and a black-and-white fallback in total darkness. Footage is stored in the cloud for three days on a rolling basis, and the feed can be viewed on multiple devices. Three days isn’t long, so anything you want to keep needs to be saved manually.
Indoor screen and video intercom
On the inside the Xiaomi Smart Door Lock 5C, a 3.5-inch screen shows who’s at the door without you opening it. It wakes up when the doorbell rings, so older family members and kids don’t need to fiddle with a phone first.
There’s a video intercom with a voice changer, plus remote unlocking through the Mi Home app. If you live alone or get deliveries while you’re out, that’s probably the feature you’ll use most.
11 ways to unlock
- AI fingerprint
- Fixed passwords and temporary visitor passwords
- WeChat mini program
- Mi Home app, over Bluetooth or remotely
- Mechanical key
- Xiaomi phones, watches, bands and NFC cards, all optional add-ons
Battery
Two power sources run in tandem. A 5,000 mAh lithium-ion battery lasts up to five months, and four AA alkaline batteries last up to six. The lock swaps between them on its own. If both run flat, you can plug a power bank into the Type-C port for emergency power.
The lock also ties into Xiaomi’s smart home ecosystem, so it can work with other Mi Home devices.
Xiaomi Smart Door Lock 5C Price and availability
After national subsidies, the Smart Door Lock 5C (Cat Eye Edition) starts at 999.6 yuan (about $149) on JD.com. The regular price is 1,176 yuan (about $175). Xiaomi hasn’t announced anything about global availability as of writing.
