Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 vs Samsung Galaxy A30: Battle of the new budget phones

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 comes has almost everything Samsung’s Galaxy A30 has to offer and at a cheaper price. Here’s how the phones compare with each other.

Redmi Note 7 compared with Galaxy A30. (Xiaomi/Samsung)

This past week was busy with many smartphone launches in India. Redmi Note 7 Pro made its global debut, while Samsung launched as many as four new smartphones.

Here we compare the mid-ranger Galaxy A30 with Xiaomi's Redmi Note 7. The two phones make for an interesting comparison considering a difference almost ₹5,000.

Design, display

Redmi Note 7 and Galaxy A30 both feature the same U-shaped notch design. Xiaomi calls it the 'dot notch' while Samsung calls it the Infinity U-display. In terms of build, Redmi Note 7 is wrapped in Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back. Galaxy A30 has a plastic body with a glossy finish in three colours of black, red and blue. Xiaomi also offers the same colour options for the Redmi Note 7.

Redmi Note 7 has a 6.3-inch display with FHD+ resolution. Galaxy A30 also offers a FHD+ display but with a slightly bigger 6.4-inch screen. Samsung however tops the display off with its Super AMOLED panel.

Performance

Redmi Note 7 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 660 processor. Galaxy A30 runs on in-house Exynos 7904 chipset. On paper, Snapdragon 660 is equipped to give a better performance than its Exynos rival with four Cortex A-73 cores. Exynos 7904 comes with two Cortex A-73 cores.

Both phones pack a 4,000mAh battery with USB Type-C port for charging. Redmi Note 7 supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4, while the Galaxy A30 comes with 15W fast charging. On the software front, both phones run custom UIs based on Android Pie. Redmi Note 7 runs on MIUI 10 and Galaxy A30 comes with the new One UI.

Camera

Redmi Note 7's China variant boasts a 48-megapixel camera. In India, the smartphone offers a 12-megapixel and 2-megapixel dual-camera setup. For selfies, there's a 13-megapixel front camera. Redmi Note 7 comes with features like AI-based portrait mode, scene detection and night mode which is due to arrive soon.

Galaxy A30 also has a dual-camera module with a combination of 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel ultra-wide angle lens. Up front, it houses a 16-megapixel selfie camera. Some of its camera features include AR emoji and live focus.

Price

Redmi Note 7 and Galaxy A30 offer a similar set of specifications but the price difference is pretty huge. Redmi Note 7 starts at ₹9,999 for the base model with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Galaxy A30 with 4GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at ₹16,990. In comparison, Redmi Note 7 with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage carries a much lesser price tag of ₹11,999.

Verdict

Galaxy A30 may offer a few better features in terms of display and camera. But the rest of the ingredients on the table are at par. Redmi Note 7 is also poised to offer a better performance than the Galaxy A30.