Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro first impressions: OnePlus 7 Pro finally gets some serious competition

Fans are divided over the pricing of Xiaomi's latest Redmi K20 Pro smartphone. With price starting at ₹27,999, a lot of people didn't expect a "Redmi" phone to be this expensive. Sure, Redmi K20 Pro has breached the ₹20,000 mark but calling it overpriced is a bit unfair, especially if you look at the specifications and features on offer.

Here's what you get for ₹27,999 - Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB of RAM, 128GB native storage, AMOLED 6.39inch full HD+ display, and 48-megapixel, 13-megapixel, and 8-megapixel triple rear cameras. Compare this to OnePlus 7 Pro - the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage, 6.67-inch AMOLED QHD screen, and 48-megapixel, 8-megapixel and 16-megapixel cameras. This variant of OnePlus 7 Pro costs ₹48,999.

There are some differences between Redmi K20 Pro and OnePlus 7 Pro but not major enough to ignore the ₹21,000 price difference. This means you can buy Redmi K20 Pro and one Redmi Note 7 Pro at OnePlus 7 Pro's cost.

Xiaomi backs its contention in the premium segment with the quality experience it delivers with Redmi K20 Pro. Let's talk about the design first. Featuring an "Aura Prime Design", Redmi K20 Pro comes with a 3D glass back panel with aluminum casing on the sides. It's smooth and surprisingly lighter. It weighs around 191 grams, lighter than OnePlus 7 Pro that weighs 206 grams.

To give a more premium feel to the phone, Xiaomi has added a holographic rim around the primary rear camera sensor. The front is all glass with fair amount of chin at the bottom. Just like OnePlus 7 Pro, Redmi K20 Pro has a pop-up selfie camera which is incredibly fast when summoned. A small but nifty touch is the lighting around the pop-up camera module which is said to help you quickly focus on where to look when taking selfies. It looks quite cool when you're taking selfies in lowlight.

Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro also impressed us with its display quality. One of the first Xiaomi phones to have an AMOLED display, it's quite vibrant and sharp. From browsing web to streaming videos, Redmi K20 Pro's AMOLED display doesn't disappoint. It has still a long way to go match AMOLED panels on Samsung's premium phones, though.

We have briefly used the camera on Redmi K20 Pro and it looks quite promising. The daylight and macro shots have come out really well. The camera app has also been more refined to make it simpler to use. We also liked the flexibility to use the different lenses on the phone via Pro mode.

As far as performance goes, Redmi K20 Pro is quite assuring. We faced no lags or stutter during our usage. The UI is familiar Android Pie-based MIUI. PUBG Mobile fans will love the optimisations offered by Redmi K20 Pro. Some of the optimisations include adjustable touch responsiveness and visual enhancements for Night Mode in PUBG. We hope Xiaomi soon extends these optimisations to other games as well.

Bottomline

Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro is a good looking phone packed with high-end specifications and features. Touted as "Flagship Killer 2.0", Redmi K20 Pro offers almost everything that OnePlus 7 Pro has, and at much lower price. We will dive deeper into the performance and camera experience in our detailed review, until then stay tuned.