Chinese technology major Xiaomi revealed its new smartphones Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro at an event in Beijing. The phones go on sale in the home country in September and may be launched in India to around the festive season here. The 64MP sensor from Samsung (ISOCELL GW 1) being fitted as the primary sensor in the quad-camera setup is definitely a highlight among the two devices unveiled.
The Redmi Note 8 Pro has a 6.53-inch full HD+ display. Xiaomi has gone in for a MediaTek processor instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets seen on the predecessor Redmi Note 7 Pro. The SoC here is the MediaTek Helio G90T, a debut for this processor. There are a couple of modes, HyperEngine and Game Turbo 2.0 meant to make the Redmi Note 8 Pro a gaming device. Xiaomi has provided liquid cooling to add to the gaming provision.
RAM support to the processor comes in two variants, 6GB and 8GB, with the corresponding internal storage being 64GB and 128GB respectively.
The camera section brings in a lot of interest with the Samsung ISOCELL GWI 64MP sensor making its first appearance on a Xiaomi smartphone as the primary sensor. This was predicted before. The sensor is supposed to be fitted by Samsung on its Samsung Galaxy S11 early next year. The quad camera setup comprises an 8MP wide angle lens and 2 x2MP sensors, one for depth sensing and the other a macro camera. A U-shaped notch on the display houses a 20MP selfie camera in the front.
A 4500mAh battery with 18W fast charging support rounds up the key specs as far as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 is concerned.
The Redmi Note 8 has specifications lower than the Pro variant, with a 6.3-inch full HD+ display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 665SoC. RAM comes in two variants 4GB and 6GB. While the internal storage for the 4GB variant is 64GB, the 6GB RAM variant has two storage options, 64GB and 128GB.
In the optics section, the Redmi Note 8 too has a quad camera setup but with a 48MP sensor as the primary sensor and the 8MP+2MP+2MP combination on the Redmi Note 8 Pro has been retained here as well. The camera in the front is also scaled down to 13MP. The battery is 4000mAh with the same 18W charger.
Now, the pricing; the lowest in the ladder is the 4GB/64GB Redmi Note 8 and this will retail in China for CNY999 (approx. Rs 10,000). The 6GB/64GB and 6GB/128GB variants are priced at 6GB/64GB priced at CNY1,199 Yuan and CNY1,399 respectively.
The Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro has many variants. The prices for the 6GB/64GB and 8GB/128GB are CNY1399 and CNY1799 respectively.
The prices for the Indian market are not known yet. One will have to wait till the company makes the launch announcement.