Redmi relaunched its Redmi Note 10s smartphone with a different name in India on August 26. Apart from a new name, Redmi Note 11 SE ditches the charger in the box for this phone.
The phone is priced at Rs. 13,499 while the older phone is available on Flipkart for Rs. 12,499. Let us check what exactly is Xiaomi doing with this phone.
Redmi Note 11 SE: Pricing and availability
Redmi Note 11 SE comes in only one variant, a 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage variant. It comes in four colours: Space Black, Thunder Purple, Cosmic White and Bifrost Blue. The colour names are slightly different, but it is the same colours you would get with Redmi Note 10S.
The phone is priced at Rs. 13,499, and it will be available on Flipkart and Mi.com online. It will also be soon available in offline stores.
Redmi Note 11 SE: Key features and specifications
Redmi Note 11 SE comes with a 6.43-inch AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 60Hz. It comes with a punch hole display, unlike the waterdrop display in some new phones in this budget range such as Realme 9i 5G, iQoo Z6 5G or Vivo T1 5G.
The phone is powered by Mediatek Helio G95 SoC and it is still one of the most powerful 4G chipsets in the segment. It could have been improved and updated to the latest Mediatek Helio G99 SoC that came with Infinix Note 12 Pro 4G and the upcoming new phone from Poco will be using. Nevertheless, it is still powerful enough for the segment.
Coming to the cameras, there is a 64MP primary camera, 8MP ultra-wide and two 2MP cameras for depth and macro. Despite being basically an old phone, it still comes with a superior camera setup compared to most other phones in the segment, especially the newer 5G phones. On the front, there is a 16MP selfie camera.
The phone is backed up by a 5000mAh battery and comes with "support" for 33W fast charging. It comes with only the support, the fast charger will not be in the box.
You would think this phone would at least come with the latest software out of the box, considering nothing else has changed. Consider my surprise to find that this phone comes with MIUI 12.5 out of the box which is based on Android 12, not the latest MIUI 13 or Android 13.
Xiaomi is taking consumers for granted
Xiaomi is taking customers for granted here. Sure, relaunching a phone with a different name is fine. Given that the new one came at a lower price than the older version. Many brands have done that and Xiaomi itself has done it before.
But here, Xiaomi not only increased the price of the phone with the relaunch but also removed the charger from the box too. Xiaomi is hoping to grab more buyers for its old phone, just because it is a new phone. It might even work and many buyers who trust the Xiaomi and Redmi brands would be buying this phone just for this being a new one. And also the salesmen in shops would be more than happy to "new" phone down consumers' throats.
If you're in the market for a phone within the budget, just get the Redmi Note 10S instead of this phone. You'll be getting the same phone at a lower price, and will be getting a charger in the box too.
Not only that, removing the fast charger in the box raises another question, would Xiaomi's next Redmi Note series phones also ditch chargers? It would be unfortunate if that happens, especially since Xiaomi just provided 67W super-fast charging with Redmi Note 11 Pro and Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus 5G this year.
