Xiaomi just unveiled the Redmi Note 8 Pro in China, which is now its latest budget smartphone. It succeeds the Redmi Note 7 Pro launched earlier this year, and brings quite a few upgrades, some of which were previously unseen in this price segment.
The Redmi Note series have been bestsellers in India since a few generations, thanks to its high value for money offerings in the budget segment of India. The Redmi Note 7 Pro was a very successful device that also drove the adoption of 48MP cameras on smartphones. Similarly, the Redmi Note 8 Pro is the world’s first smartphone with a 64MP camera and the new MediaTek G90T chipset. Here are all the differences and upgrades between the Redmi Note 8 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 Pro.
Design
The Redmi Note 7 Pro implements a glass sandwich design with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and the back, with the camera array tucked in the corner. The Redmi Note 8 Pro sticks to the same choice of materials but brings a curved back with cameras placed along the spine of the phone, which is slightly identical to Xiaomi's latest K20-series. Also, the Redmi branding finds itself vertically placed in line with the camera setup.
The fingerprint scanner is also located on the back on both the phones.
Display
The Note 7 Pro has a 6.3-inch LCD panel with a resolution of 2340 x 1080 which equates to an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. The Redmi Note 8 Pro retains that resolution but opts for a bigger 6.53-inch display with a waterdrop notch on the top for the front camera which might be a little bigger than the dot notch on the Note 7 Pro. The display is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 on both the models.
Considering the slightly bigger display area, the ppi(pixels per inch, the unit for pixel density) drops from 409 to 395, but the difference in sharpness won't be perceivable. As mentioned earlier, the fingerprint scanner is not under the display.
Performance
Processors primarily determine the performance of a smartphone. The Redmi Note 7 Pro has a Snapdragon 675 chipset which was one of the best processors of its time in this price segment. The Redmi Note 8 Pro opts for a 12nm gaming-centric MediaTek Helio G90T chipset which is expected to bring a great gaming experience. The last time we saw a MediaTek SoC powering a Redmi Note device was in 2015 with the Note 2.
That is paired with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, instead of starting at 4GB as the predecessor did.
Camera
48MP cameras were all the rage in the first half of 2019 and the Note 7 Pro was one of the most popular devices to bring it to the masses. However, the other camera was a modest 5MP depth sensor.
With the Redmi Note 8 Pro, Xiaomi has brought one of the most versatile camera packages seen in this segment, with a quad-camera arrangement. The primary camera is a 64MP f/1.8 sensor with PDAF, along with an 8MP ultrawide lens with a 13mm focal length, a 2MP macro lens and another 2MP depth sensor. The front camera also gets a bump up to 20MP from 13MP.
The 64MP Samsung Bright ISOCELL GW1 image sensor is expected to make an appearance in a lot more smartphones coming later this year such as the Realme XT.
Battery and Charging
The Redmi Note series has always been known to offer big batteries. The Note 7 Pro shipped with a respectable 4,000 mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. Ever since the Redmi Note 3, Xiaomi had been offering a battery this size, but with the Redmi Note 8 Pro, it has finally moved an even bigger 4,500 mAh battery that supports 18W Quick Charge 4+, over USB Type-C.
Both the phones retain the 3.5mm headphone jack, and the Note 8 also adds NFC. Storage, too, is expandable on both the devices via the hybrid SIM slot.
Price in India
Mi Fans. Thank u for your excitement for #RedmiNote8Pro, world's 1st phone to be launched with #64MP Quad Camera 📸We'll do our best to bring them to India asap! However, certification & testing might take ~8 weeks. Will keep you posted.8 weeks for #RedmiNote8! 😎#Xiaomi ❤️ https://t.co/DCzdUviz7pAugust 29, 2019
The Redmi Note 7 Pro starts at Rs 13,999 for the 4 + 64GB variant in India, and goes up to Rs 16,999 for the top 6 + 128GB model. The Redmi Note 8 Pro will come to India in October, but the Chinese pricing indicates a very similar price point. The 6 + 64GB variant is priced at 1,399 yuan which converts to about Rs 14,000 and goes up to 1,799 yuan for the 8 + 128GB model.
