At launch, the Redmi K20 was easily overshadowed by its Snapdragon 855-toting ‘Pro’ sibling. The attention it did finally get was in the form of outrage by a section of fans, angry that the phone was priced above Rs. 20,000, with some even going so far as to raise a Change.org petition!
Just how justified was this outrage though? Is the Redmi K20 worth the money? We dig deep to answer three key questions about the all-new Redmi K20.
The Redmi K20 is available at Mi.com, Flipkart and Mi Home stores at Rs. 21,999 for the 6GB/64GB model or Rs. 23,999 for the 6GB/128GB version.
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Redmi K20 vs Redmi K20 Pro—How similar are they?
Usually there’s a big gap between the Pro and ordinary models of phones, with size, battery, and camera being some of the ways that they differ. Not so with the Redmi K20. Xiaomi has used the exact same materials, colorways and build quality in both the Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro.
The likeness is not merely superficial—the K20 shares the same in-display fingerprint scanner, pop-up selfie camera, button layout and ports as the Redmi K20 Pro. They also share the 6.3-inch full-HD AMOLED displays, and have the same 20MP front-facing camera, 4000mAh batteries, and run the MIUI10/POCO Launcher combo. One difference is that the Redmi K20 does not support 27W fast charging, which the Redmi K20 Pro does.
Redmi K20 vs Redmi K20 Pro—What’s different?
The main differences are that the Redmi K20 Pro uses the top-end Snapdragon 855 chip, while the Redmi K20 uses the newer, but slightly less powerful Snapdragon 730. This isn’t noticeable, unless you’re running a game like PUBG at the highest graphics settings.
The next big change is that the Redmi K20 uses the Sony IMX582 sensor for the rear camera, while the Redmi K20 Pro uses the IMX586. The latter has a slight advantage when it comes to video—with the Redmi K20 Pro, you can shoot 4K videos at 60 frames per second, while the Redmi K20 can shoot 4K videos at “only” 30 frames per second. The rest of the multi-camera setup is the same too.
If one were to nitpick, the images are a little less vibrant on the Redmi K20, but they’re still detailed and offer excellent dynamic range. The low-light performance still leaves much to be desired, and Xiaomi would do well to push out a software update to address the soft details when shooting in less light.
Add to cart?
Is the price tag, which caused so much outrage, justified?
First, the Snapdragon 730 processor lines up after the Snapdragon 855 and Snapdragon 845 platforms in terms of outright performance, so you could either spend just a little more, and pick up the Redmi K20 Pro… or spend a little less and get last year’s Poco F1, for max performance. The cheaper Realme X is also a viable alternative.
Looked at by itself, the Redmi K20 seems like a great buy, with great specs and a cool design. The price is justified, but given the heavy competition, it might have been a good idea to lower the tag a little.