Xiaomi just dropped a bomb in the Indian smartphone market with its Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro smartphones yesterday, shaking up the landscape for consumers. The devices are loaded with powerful hardware and features and costs a lot less than some of the competition.
With Redmi K20 starting at Rs 21,999 and the K20 Pro starting at Rs 27,999 there is quite a price-gap between the two. But what is exactly different between the devices? Does the Pro in the Redmi K20 really make it worth the Rs 6,000 price tag? Which Redmi K20 should you buy? Don't worry, we're going to help you solve this dilemma.
There are quite a few similarities between?the Redmi K20 and the Redmi K20 Pro. For starters, both the devices get the exact same looks. You get the Aura design glass back with the wavy-shiny patterns at the back, that look really pretty in my opinion.?
Both the devices also get the same 6.3-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and 403 ppi, with support for HDR (High Dynamic Range) as well as DCI-P3 colour gamut that enhances the colour contrast and delivers a beautiful viewing experience. The display is notch-less and bezel-less with 91.9 percent screen-to-body ratio.?
Both the devices also get the pop-up camera on the top and a triple camera sensor at the back. A 48-megapixel primary camera (However there is a difference in the kind of sensor between the K20/K20 Pro. We'll get to that in the next section) at f/1.8, with support for PDAF as well as Laser AF. The second camera is an 8-megapixel sensor at f/2.4 and 2x optical zoom. The third is a 124-degree ultra-wide camera with a 13-megapixel sensor at f/2.4. For selfies, you get a pop-up 20-megapixel shooter for crispy selfies.
Another similarity between the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro is with its battery. Powering both the devices is a 4000 mAh battery. However, there is a slight alteration with the charging configuration. More on that in the next section.?
Both the devices are running on the latest Android 9.0 Pie with Xiaomi's custom MIUI skin on top. The software includes AI-based camera features that are available on both the devices as well as Dark mode to make the most of the AMOLED display.?
Now coming to the differences between the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro. The most crucial and noticeable difference is in the hardware under the hood.
The Redmi K20 Pro is rocking Qualcomm's flagship-grade Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor (As seen on the OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 pro) with Adreno 640GPU. It comes in two variants- a 6GB/128GB storage and 8GB RAM/256GB storage. Flagship-grade hardware means everything would run butter-smooth without any jitters or lags, even under immense loads.?
The Redmi K20 on the other hand, is loaded with the mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 octa-core processor along with Adreno 618GPU. The processor is paired with 6GB of RAM and 64GB/128GB storage variants.
As mentioned earlier, there is a difference in the kind of camera sensor used on the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro. Sure, both the devices get a 48-megapixel Sony sensor but the K20 Pro gets the Sony IMX586 whereas the Redmi K20 gets an IMX582. Now the only difference between the two is that the former can shoot 4K videos at 60fps whereas the latter can only shoot 4K at 30fps.
Another notable difference is with the charging configuration. The Redmi K20 Pro gets 27W Fast-Charging capabilities (58 percent battery in 30 minutes charge), whereas the regular K20 just gets the standard 18W Fast-Charging. The 27W fast charger is sold separately for Rs 999 on Mi.com.
To sum it all up, the Pro truly does make a difference, and here, everything is dependent on your budget. If you can afford to get a phone for Rs 27,999 or even 30,999 (for the 8GB/256GB variant), going for the Redmi K20 Pro is a no-brainer. On paper, it is able to provide some really neat specifications for the price.
However, if you're tight on the budget and you're looking to spend somewhere around Rs 22,000, the K20 isn't a bad phone by any means. The device is able to deliver the exact same experience as the flagship, and even with a slightly slower processor, the performance looks to be butter smooth, even for gaming.?
Stay tuned for the full review of the Redmi K20 coming soon!