Where the Xiaomi Redmi 5 stands in the budget segment

After updating the Redmi Note line-up, Xiaomi is stepping up the game in the more affordable Redmi series. The Chinese company has announced the successor to last year’s Redmi 4 (Rs6,999 onwards) . It is called the Redmi 5 and it will be available in India from 20 March 2018 at Amazon.in and Mi.com at Rs7,999 (2GB RAM+16GB storage), Rs8,999(3GB+32GB) and Rs10,999 (4GB +64GB).

The Redmi 5 comes with the new thin bezel design with 18:9 aspect ratio, seen in the Redmi Note 5 (Rs9,999 onwards) and Note 5 Pro (Rs13,999 onwards). Compared to the predecessor, which had a 5-inch screen, the Redmi 5 has a significantly bigger 5.7-inch screen. However, it has a resolution of just 1,440x720p resulting in pixel density of 282ppi. The Redmi Note offers a slightly bigger 6-inch screen but with higher resolution of 2,160×1,080p and pixel density of 403ppi.

Though it looks tall (151.8mm), the new smartphone weighs just 157g. This makes it a handy alternative to the Redmi Note 5 which tips the scales at 180g.

Xiaomi hasn’t compromised on the build quality of the Redmi 5 and has retained the full metal design. Fingerprint sensor is placed at the back and the navigation keys are integrated within the interface. The other notable feature of the Redmi 5 is the thinner profile. It is just 7.7mm thick, which is not only less than the predecessor (8.7mm) but even the Redmi Note 5 and Note 5 Pro (8.05mm).

The Redmi 5 is powered by Qualcomm’s 14nm based Snapdragon 450 octa-core chipset clocking at 1.8GHz. It is more powerful than the 28nm based Snapdragon 435 octa-core processor that runs in the predecessor, but inferior to the Snapdragon 625 and Snapdragon 636 processors used in the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro, respectively. The only other budget smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 processor is Vivo V7, which is selling at Rs16,990.

Xiaomi has cut down on the battery size to keep the device thin. User gets a 3,300mAh battery, which is less than the predecessor’s 4,100mAh battery in the predecessor. For social media enthusiasts, the phone has a 12-megapixel rear camera with large pixel size of 1.2 micron pixel and a 5-megapixel front camera with LED flash.

The Redmi 5 is a major upgrade at several levels, but is also a step backwards in terms of battery size and screen resolution. Most of the thin bezel smartphones under Rs10,000, such as the Micromax Canvas Infinity (Rs8,999) and InFocus Vision 3 (Rs6,999) have similar screen resolution but offers much inferior hardware. The former runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor while the latter runs on MediaTek’s MT6737 quad-core processor.