Only a few companies have launched a flagship so far this
year, and Xiaomi is already on their second.
The launch of the Redmi K30 Pro models give Xiaomi a more affordable option to the existing Mi 10 Pro 5G and gives them something to compete with against the other affordable flagship, the Realme X50 Pro 5G.
The Redmi K30 Pro is quite interesting, the Redmi brand a
more affordable solution vs Xiaomi itself but this phone has a specification
that makes it more appealing than the Mi 10 Pro 5G for certain aspects.
Chipset, Ram & Storage
The chipset is the same on all the phones, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 is going to be the main chipset found in flagship phones for 2020, but competition is picking up for Qualcomm, with Mediatek having the Dimensity 1000.
The affordable Redmi nature shows its sign immediate with a
lower base RAM of 6GB and lower storage of 128GB.
Just to make things confusing the 6GB/128GB variant has
LPDDR4X RAM and UFS 3.0 while the higher specced models have faster LPDDR5 RAM
and UFS 3.1 storage. Both the Mi 10 Pro 5G and Realme have UFS 3.0
Options go up to 12GB RAM, and 256GB storage. This is also
the only option with microSD.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro starts with 8GB and 256GB going up to 12GB
and 512GB
Realme also have a 6GB ram starting point, then 128GB base storage
with options going up to 12GB and 256GB
Display
It looks like Xiaomi have simplified manufacturing by using
the same screen size of 6.67 inches the difference being the Redmi has a pop-up
selfie, so the screen is free of holes giving it a 1080 x 2400 pixel
resolution. On the downside, it lacks a 90Hz refresh and 180Hz touch-sensing.
The lack of 90hz is going to be a seirous issue for some
users that have experienced the smoothness of these screens.
The Xiaomi comes with a beautiful curved 6.67 inch AMOLED
display running at 1080 x 2340 pixels with 90Hz refresh rate and 180hz touch
sensing. It will have a small punch hole to the upper left of the display.
Then the Realme has a 6.44 inch 90Hz Super AMOLED screen
with 180hz touch sensing
Camera
For the Redmi K30 Pro this has a quad rear camera setup.
You’re getting a 64MP IMX686 main camera capable of 8K recording, a 13MP
ultra-wide shooter (123 degrees), 2MP depth sensor, and 5MP “telephoto macro”
lens. Meanwhile, a 20MP pop-up shooter handles selfies.
The Zoom model changes things a little, it also offers a
64MP IMX686 main camera, 13MP ultra-wide sensor, and 2MP depth camera, but
swaps out the 5MP camera for an 8MP 3x telephoto shooter. But the Zoom edition
also delivers optical image stabilization on both the main and telephoto
cameras, whereas the standard variant doesn’t offer this option.
Both models have a 20MP pop-up selfie camera.
On the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro you get:
- 108 MP, f/1.7, (wide), 1/1.33″, 0.8µm,
PDAF, Laser AF, OIS - 8 MP, f/2.0, (telephoto), 1.0µm, PDAF, Laser AF,
OIS, 10x hybrid optical zoom - 12 MP, f/2.0, (portrait), 1/2.55″, 1.4µm,
dual pixel PDAF, 2x optical zoom - 20 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide)
- 20 MP f/2.0 selfie
The none pro model loses the 8MP telephoto and 12MP portrait,
drops the ultrawide down to 13MP, then adds the largely useless 2MP macro and
2MP TOF lenses.
Realme doesn’t have the best camera spec for a flagship
phone (which it makes up for in price), this has:
- 64 MP, f/1.8, 26mm (wide), 1/1.72″, 0.8µm,
PDAF - 12 MP, f/2.5, 54mm (telephoto), 2x optical zoom,
PDAF - 8 MP, f/2.3, 13mm (ultrawide), PDAF
- 2 MP B/W, f/2.4, (depth)
Then there is a dual selfie in the punch hole with:
- 32 MP, f/2.5,
26mm (wide), 1/2.8″, 0.8µm - 8 MP, f/2.2,
17mm (ultrawide), 1/4.0″
Battery
The Redmi K30 Pro features a 4700 mAh battery, with 33 W
fast-charging that charges the phone fully in just 63 minutes.
The Mi 10 Pro 5G has a 4500 mAh battery but the none pro has
a larger 4780 mAh battery, then the Pro has 50W charging and none pro 30W.
For Realme, you get a 4200 mAh battery with 65W charging
that is capable of 100% in 35 min.
Other
All the phones have the latest Wi-Fi 6 as well as NFC for
Google Pay and under-display fingerprint sensors.
Only the Redmi K30 Pro has a 3.5mm headphone jack, and I
think this may be the first Xiaomi phone with a proper IP rating of IP53 (which
is splash resistance)
Price
The Redmi K30 Pro starts at 2,999 yuan (£362) for the
6GB/128GB model, 3,399 yuan (£410) for the 8GB/128GB variant, and 3,699 yuan (£446)
for the 8GB/256GB option. The Zoom Edition will set you back 3,799 yuan (£459)
for the 8GB/128GB variant, and 3,999 yuan (£483) for the 8GB/256GB tier.
If and when these phones land in the UK, they will likely come
it a higher price.
The Xiaomi Mi 10 series is expected to hit the UK on the 27th,
it looks like only the normal model is arriving for now and this will be £699
(128GB) and £799 (256GB)
The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro is not available officially in the UK,
but you can import it from the likes of Banggood for £834 with 8GB/256GB
The Realme X50 Pro starts at 599-Euros for 8GB/128GB and
goes up to 749-Euros for 12GB/256GB. So a base price of about £550, that’s considerably
cheaper than the Xiaomi Mi 10 and quite likely cheaper than the UK/EU pricing
of the Xiaomi Redmi K30 Pro Zoom which would be the most likely alternative
option between the two.
