Xiaomi’s much-awaited Redmi K20 series landed in India today. The latest smartphone series brings Xiaomi back to the premium segment. Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro brings new design and features such as pop-up selfie camera and in-screen fingerprint sensor. Already launched in China, Redmi K20 Pro comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor. The cheaper Redmi K20 comes with Snapdragon 730 processor. Here are the highlights from Redmi K20 series launch event.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro comes in 6GB and 128GB and 8GB and 256GB variants, priced at Rs 27,999 and Rs 30,999 respectively. Xiaomi Redmi K20 comes in 6GB and 64GB and 6GB and 128GB variants. The two models are priced at Rs 21,999 and Rs 23,999 respectively.
Xiaomi will be available for Alpha Sale customers starting today. The company is giving all Alpha Sale customers Rs 2000 cashback. The same cashback will be extended to Mi Home Stores. Xiaomi Redmi K20 and Redmi K20 Pro will go on sale on July 22 on Mi.com, Flipkart.com and Mi Home.
Xiaomi has also launched a Redmi K20 Pro Signature Edition. The phone has real gold panel and diamond engraving. The company will sell only 20 units of the phone. Xiaomi did not disclose the price of device but it said the phone cost Rs 4,80,000 to make.
Xiaomi has also introduced a cheaper version of K20 Pro. The phone comes with almost same set of specifications and features. Some of the important changes include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 processor and 18W fast charging support The phone has the same triple-rear camera setup (48MP on the phone is a Sony IMX582 sensor) and battery specifications.
Redmi K20 Pro comes with a 4,000mAh battery. The phone supports 27W ‘SonicCharge’. The phone is said to deliver 10 hours of 4G talk time with 15 minutes of charge. The phone can hit over 50% in around 30 minutes. Redmi K20 Pro supports high resolution audio (DAC), USB Type-C port, and 3.5mm headphone jack. The phone comes with dual frequency GPS for easier navigation. Redmi K20 Pro comes with P2i splash-proof certification.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro offers a 20-megapixel pop-up selfie camera. The phone rises in 0.8 seconds. The pop-up selfie camera module has a camera edge lighting system. The phone also has a fall-detection feature which allows pop-up camera to automatically tuck in.
Redmi K20 Pro comes with a triple-rear camera setup. The setup includes a 48-megapixel sensor (Sony IMX586) with f/1.75 aperture, 6P lens, and 1.6um pixel size. Other two lenses are 13-megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, and 8-megapixel telephoto camera (2x optical zoom). The camera supports laser autofocus and dual LED flash. The phone also supports 960fps ultra slow motion mode and 4K UHD videos at 60fps. All three rear cameras can shoot in 4K resolution.
Redmi K20 Pro is Xiaoim’s first phone to feature an AMOLED display. The phone has 600nit brightness and DCI-P3 colour gamut. Redmi K20 Pro comes with HDR support. This means users can watch high resolution content on apps like YouTube and Netflix. The HDR mode is also said to bring better visual experience when playing graphic-intensive games. It also comes with Always-On display and system-wide Dark Mode. The phone also has an in-screen fingerprint sensor.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro uses 3D curved glass. Both front and back are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. Xiaomi says its new design allows Redmi K20 Pro to be lighter than OnePlus 7 and iPhone X. Some of the subtle design changes include a red accent button on the side, holographic ring around the rear camera module and aluminum frame. Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro comes in Glacier Blue and Flame Red colour options. The company has also introduced a special third colour variant, Carbon Black. The variant has Kevlar gradient pattern.
Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor up to 8GB of RAM and Adreno 640 GPU. The phone has second gen Gaming Turbo. Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro comes with an 8-layer graphite cooling system for faster heat dissipation. Xiaomi claims Redmi K20 Pro’s heat management is much better than Apple’s iPhone X.
The second gen Game Turbo brings better gaming performance. The phone also has improved touch latency for faster experience on games such as PUBG. Game Turbo betters in visual and sound department as well. Some of the optimisations include special visual enhancement for Night Mode in PUBG game.
Snapdragon 855 chip also brings Adreno 640 GPU for graphics. It is also the first mobile chip to feature Vulkan 1.1 cinematic post-processing depth of field, filmic tone-mapping, and HDR. The chip also has physically based rendering (PBR). The chip is also more power efficient than Snapdragon 845.
Touted as “The Alpha Flagship”, Redmi K20 Pro comes with Snapdragon 855 processor. It is Qualcomm’s most premium chip for smartphones. Based on 7nm processor, Snapdragon 855 processor is a big upgrade over 845 processor, 2018’s last flagship chip. The chip is said to deliver up to 45% better performance than the last year’s processor.
Xiaomi explains what “K” stands for in the new smartphone series. Manu Kumar Jain says “K” denotes a powerful phone for everyone. He also highlighted Xiaomi has turned five in India.
Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain takes the stage to start the launch event of Redmi K20 series. In addition to the launch, Xiaomi India is also celebrating its five year anniversary. Manu shares details on how Xiaomi India came into being.
Xiaomi is known to price its smartphones very competitively. The Redmi K20 series would be no exception either. To get an idea, Redmi K20 starts at CNY 1,999 (Rs 20,200 approximately) in China. As for the Redmi K20 Pro, it has a starting price of CNY 2,499 (Rs 25,200 approximately).
Xiaomi introduced ‘alpha sale’ for its Redmi K20 series ahead of the launch. Interested users could pre-book Redmi K20 or Redmi K20 Pro through mi.com and Flipkart for Rs 855 and purchase it post the official launch on July 17. This however does not guarantee a Redmi K20 or K20 Pro unit. Users can also cancel anytime. Xiaomi will refund the money for those booked through mi.com, while Flipkart will issue coupons.
Redmi K20 Pro is set to have the best camera setup than any Xiaomi smartphone launched so far. Ahead of the launch, Xiaomi teased Laser AF feature on its Redmi K20 series. The company says the feature helps improve focus time and AWB correction to deliver “crispy photos.”
Ahead of Redmi K20 Pro launch in India, Realme launched Realme X, a premium flagship phone with features such as pop-up selfie camera and in-screen fingerprint sensor. Xiaomi is also looking to take on OnePlus with its ‘flagship killer 2.0’.
Apart from new design and features like pop-up selfie camera, Xiaomi is betting big on performance. The latest Redmi K20 Pro phone comes with flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor. Redmi K20 Pro could very well be the cheapest phone in India to offer the chipset.
Xiaomi is expected to launch multiple variants of Redmi K20 Pro. The strategy seems very similar to Poco F1’s which offered multiple versions covering Rs 20,000-Rs 30,000 price bracket. Redmi K20 Pro could be available in 8GB + 256GB, 6GB+128GB , and 6GB+64GB versions.
Ahead of the official launch Xiaomi has hinted at launching a special edition of Redmi K20. Dubbed as Gold edition, the phone may cost a whopping Rs 4.8 lakhs.