Redmi 10 Prime vs Realme 8i: Under ₹15,000, which phone is better?

The Redmi 10 Prime and Realme 8i are currently the newest options from Xiaomi and Realme for less than ₹15,000. If 5G isn’t a concern, which one of these should you pick?

The Redmi 10 Prime and Realme 8i use Mediatek's 4G chips, and bring the new 50-megapixel Samsung camera sensor.

The budget smartphone space has slowed down with innovations owing to the rising component costs lately. That said, both Xiaomi and Realme are keeping the interest high with new launches. Xiaomi launched the Redmi 10 Prime in this segment with a starting price of ₹12,499 while arch rival Realme brought the Realme 8i at ₹13,999. On paper, both these phones surpass their rivals in terms of value.

The Realme 8i is more expensive and as a result, ends up bringing a lot more features over the Redmi 10 Prime. It is one of the few phones in this segment to offer a 120Hz refresh rate display, with the only other phone being the Motorola G40 Fusion. It even has a faster processor onboard, which could lure gamers. But the Redmi 10 Prime is cheaper.

Hence, if you are in the market choosing between these, what should be your pick? Redmi 10 Prime vs Realme 8i

Design, Build

This is highly subjective and either one of these phones can woo their buyers. The Realme 8i goes for a glossy gradient look that Realme is known for. The Redmi 10 Prime apes its more expensive Mi 10T series cousins with subtle colours. Both these phones have a plastic unibody construction.

Redmi 10 Prime (Xiaomi)

Redmi 10 Prime (Xiaomi)

Display

The Realme 8i gets a 6.6-inch LCD display with a variable refresh rate of 120Hz (6 levels), a touch sampling rate of 180Hz, and fairly narrow bezels. The display on the Redmi 10 Prime seems lesser in comparison with its 6.5-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display having a refresh rate of only 90Hz. Xiaomi, however, states Gorilla Glass 3 protection while Realme does not say anything.

Specs, Features

The Redmi 10 Prime uses a new MediaTek Helio G88 chip that promises decent performance for low-end gaming. While you do get up to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM, it only offers the slower eMMC 5.1 storage in 64GB and 128GB options. There's MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11 available out of the box.

The Realme 8i gets the faster Helio G96 chip along with a faster UFS 2.1 storage and LPDDR4X RAM. Realme offers its Realme UI 2.0 based on Android 11 out of the box.

Both the phone comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack and a USB-C port.

Realme 8i

Realme 8i

Cameras

The Redmi 10 Prime takes a massive lead here with its cameras over the Realme 8i. The Redmi 10 Prime has a 50-megapixel primary camera that's accompanied by an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth camera. The front camera relies on an 8-megapixel sensor.

The Realme 8i only has a triple camera setup with no ultra-wide camera. You get a similar 50-megapixel main camera along with the 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth cameras. The selfie camera has a higher resolution of 16-megapixels.

Battery

The Redmi 10 Prime has another advantage here with its 6000mAh battery and relies on an 18W fast charging system. The Realme 8i has a smaller 5000mAh battery with the same 18W charging system. Both these phones should last over a day but the Redmi 10 Prime will offer extra battery life.

Price

This is what matters the most. The Redmi 10 Prime starts at ₹12,499 for the 4GB/64GB variant and goes up to ₹14,499 for the 6GB/128GB version. The Realme 8i starts at ₹13,999 for the 4GB/64GB version and goes up to ₹15,999 for the 6GB/128GB variant.

Xiaomi has a price advantage of ₹500 on the Redmi 10 Prime, a superior camera setup, and a bigger battery, while the Realme 8i has the faster chipset and a smoother display