The battle for the best smartphone under Rs 25,000 in India has got a lot more intense now with the launch of the Redmi K50i. With the launch of the Redmi K50i, the company has marked the resurgence of the K-series in India nearly three years after the 2019 Redmi K20 series. The Redmi K50i comes with two storage options and is priced aggressively at Rs 25,999.

I say aggressively priced because the Redmi K50i packs a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC, which is not only the most affordable smartphone to pack the chipset but also the only one in its price segment to feature a 5nm chip. It also sports a 144Hz refresh rate screen and packs a beefy 5080 mAh battery. There’s more to it than the performance engine and after using the phone for about a week, here is our Redmi K50i review.

When you promote a phone with the “Live Extreme” tagline, you better make sure that it can take the heat when put to test. In the case of the Redmi K50i, the phone delivers and sticks true to the tagline of living extreme. It packs a MediaTek Dimensity 8100 SoC, which is a premium Android SoC found in value flagships. And it would be like stating the obvious, but the phone does offer excellent performance.

I usually do not talk about AnTuTu scores in my reviews, but since a lot of marketing has been around it, I did try to see if the claims are true. Redmi claimed that the K50i has an AnTuTu score of over 8.22 lakh. My Redmi K50i review unit, which packs 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, scored 7.98 lakh on AnTuTu. While it did not match the claimed number, the score is very impressive for a phone priced at Rs 28,999. For end users, what really matters is that a phone can offer sustained, lag-free performance and the Redmi K50i delivers on that front.

I played BGMI on the phone for hours. The Redmi K50i showed no signs of lag while playing on Smooth graphics + 90fps setting. You can switch to HDR graphics but the frame rate support drops to Ultra, which is about 40 fps. The Redmi K50i also did not heat or feel much warmer, which is quite impressive. The same was the case when I recorded video for about 15 minutes, which is when phones usually heat up. The Redmi K50i, surprisingly, did not get alarmingly hot. Minor warmth to the touch, yes, but I dare complain about that. Maybe it is the vapour cooling chamber system inside that helped the phone stay cool.

Coming to the software side of things, the Redmi K50i runs Android 12-based MIUI 13 out of the box. The new MIUI 13 update brings many system-level enhancements. These include an optimised file storage system, processor priority optimisation, etc. The animations feel smooth and I did not notice any stutter anywhere as much. There are some third-party apps, some of which can be useful. These include LinkedIn, Netflix, Facebook, Zilli, etc. If you find these apps unnecessarily occupying storage, you can simply long-press and uninstall them.

Xiaomi, by the way, has promised to provide two major Android updates and three years of security support for the Redmi K50i.

The Redmi K50i packs a 5080 mAh battery under the hood. During my testing, the phone’s battery lasted for a day easily when the refresh rate was set to “Default” and the use case was fairly mediocre. When I say mediocre, I mean basic calling and messaging, scrolling on social media apps, watching a few YouTube videos or shows on Netflix, etc. On days when I played games for about 45 minutes and also shot photos and videos, the phone died in about 14 hours, while offering about 6 hours and 30 minutes of screen-on time (SoT).

The phone packs a 67W fast charger in the box, which refills the battery from 4 per cent to 100 per cent in about 48 minutes.

Another USP of the Redmi K50i, other than its processor, is the display. The phone sports a 6.6-inch tall Full HD+ screen with 144Hz refresh rate support. The phone lets users manually switch between 60Hz, 90Hz and 144Hz refresh rates. Alternatively, you can use the default setting to let the phone smartly switch between seven different refresh rates depending on the on-screen content.

The spec sheet gang will say that the display is bad because it is an LCD. In Xiaomi’s defence, the Redmi K50i uses a better type of LCD called the fringe-field switching (FFS) LCD, which does offer wider viewing angles and vibrant colours while consuming less power. The screen also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10 videos, which helps while watching some shows on Netflix.

The downside, though, is the display’s brightness levels. Although the Redmi K50i uses a better LCD, it still cannot match the brightness levels of an AMOLED display. The typical brightness is about 500 nits, which is more than enough for normal indoor use. It is when you are out in the sun that the display feels a bit dim and dull, making you want a brighter display even when it is set to max. There is also some colour bleeding around the hole-punch camera and the corners of the display.

Coming to the speakers, the phone has a dual speaker setup with Dolby Atmos support. The speakers are loud and offer good quality sound. The Redmi K50i’s primary speaker at the bottom edge channels out more sound compared to the one at the top. The difference isn’t much, but one can notice it. In an era when most phones ditch the 3.5mm headphone jack, the Redmi K50i retains one. This will be appreciated by gamers, who would typically prefer wired earphones over wireless earphones/ headphones while playing mobile games.

To ensure that the phone offers a great performance unit while undercutting the competition, Redmi had to cut some corners. One such area is design. The phone sports a polycarbonate back and frame, which might not necessarily feel much premium. The minimal design makes the Stealth Black colour look bland, whereas the Phantom Blue looks the best, in my opinion. Our Redmi K50i review unit comes in this Quick Silver colourway.

Design preferences are purely subjective, so I leave the choice to you. What you should know though is that the phone feels dense in hand, offering a good grip. It has a flat frame but the rear panel curves slightly, thus offering a good in-hand feel. The Redmi K50i weighs about 200 grams and is 8.87mm thick.

At the front, there is a hole-punch cutout at the top centre. The phone sports a fairly thick chin. The Redmi K50i has a quick-to-unlock side-mounted fingerprint scanner. It also has the much-loved IR blaster at the top. The phone also has an IP53 rating, which is found in only select phones at this price point.

The Redmi K50i’s camera performance took me by surprise. Xiaomi and Redmi phones haven’t delivered great camera performance in the sub-Rs 30,000 segment. Compared to other phones like the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G or the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge, the Redmi K50i’s camera performance is quite better.

The phone has a triple-camera setup on the back. It uses a Samsung GW1 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera and a 2MP macro camera. The main camera produces detailed shots with a good dynamic range and colours. In most cases, the colours weren’t over-saturated but boosted enough to make them look more pleasant to the eye - something similar to what some may say is “Instagram-ready”. In lowlight scenes, the camera bumps up the exposure to offer more bright images while curbing the noise and grains. However, images look slightly soft when you start searching for details, especially in the darker areas.

The 8MP ultrawide camera captures a slightly cooler colour temperature, making images look slightly blue. There is a 2MP macro camera which often makes me miss the 5MP tele-macro camera that was found in 2021 Redmi mid-range smartphones like the Redmi Note 10 Pro Max. This 2MP sensor is nowhere close when it comes to the details, focusing or sharpness levels. I would rather advise you to use the 64MP mode and crop the image to get better results.

At the front, there is a 16MP camera which needs some fine-tuning. It does a good job with details, but the camera adds a layer of a light red hue to the skin of human subjects. Portrait mode is quite good with edge detection, but again, the skin tone is slightly messed up.

If you have come this far in our Redmi K50i review, you must have figured that the phone is an excellent choice for performance users. With a starting price of Rs 25,999, the Redmi K50i offers an excellent price-to-performance ratio. The battery life is solid and the camera performance is also quite good for the price.

Things like the addition of a 3.5mm headphone jack, IP53 rating and an IR blaster do add to the user experience. On top of this, you get the latest Android 12 update along with the promise of three years of software support.

I would have preferred a 120Hz AMOLED over a 144Hz LCD, mainly for a brighter, more vibrant display. That being said, the FFS LCD tries to make up for the downsides with its good viewing angles and a fairly good indoor viewing experience. Ironically, this is where the Redmi K20 Pro excelled with its all-screen, no-notch AMOLED display that offered a truly immersive experience.

There is also a polycarbonate back, but for those who prefer functionality over form, it might not be as big a deal.

But in 2022, things are quite different. Phones, in general, have become more expensive. Companies are also launching devices in the sub-Rs 30,000 segment with more-or-less the same specs. The Redmi K50i switches gears and takes itself a notch higher with a performance unit that we see in some of the best smartphones under Rs 40,000 in India. I would not be surprised if the competition (looking at you, iQOO and Realme) plans to play catchup by launching phones that match the Redmi K50i’s price-to-performance ratio.

All in all, Redmi’s K-series marks a solid comeback with the K50i to offer a great, value-for-money experience.

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