YU Ace vs Xiaomi Redmi 5A: Top budget smartphones compared

YU Ace is the latest entrant in the budget smartphone market. Here’s how the smartphone compares against Xiaomi’s Redmi 5A, its direct competitor.

YU Ace features a 5.45-inch HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio. (YU)

Micromax-backed YU launched a new budget smartphone in India today. YU Ace carries a price tag of ₹5,999 and is packed with specifications well above the rest in the same price segment. YU Ace will be available in India on September 6 exclusively via Flipkart at 12:00pm.

Based on its price and specifications, YU Ace directly competes against Xiaomi's Redmi 5A smartphone. Xiaomi had launched Redmi 5A in India last November at a starting price of ₹5,999. Both smartphones share a similar set of specifications and features. Here's a detailed comparison between the two phones.

Design and display

YU Ace and Redmi feature a plastic body with rounded edges. The design elements on both the phones are pretty similar with the company's branding being the main differentiator. YU Ace is offered in three colour options of charcoal grey, electrik blue and rose gold. Redmi 5A has four colour options of gold, rose gold, dark grey and light blue.

YU Ace has an upper hand in the display department as it has a bigger 5.45-inch HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Redmi 5 comes with a slightly smaller 5-inch display and thick bezels on top and bottom.

Xiaomi Redmi 5A and YU Ace both feature a plastic body with similar design elements. (Xiaomi)

Xiaomi Redmi 5A and YU Ace both feature a plastic body with similar design elements. (Xiaomi)

Performance

YU Ace is powered by MediaTek's MT6739 processor, while Redmi 5A runs Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 SoC. Both chipsets are direct competitors in the budget smartphone category and offer similar features with a quad-core processor based on the Cortex-A53 architecture. Here, both phones would be offering performance in almost the same level.

In terms of storage, the base model of YU Ace and Redmi come with 2GB RAM and 16GB storage. There's another variant with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage priced at ₹6,999 for both the phones.

While Xiaomi smartphones are known for their battery prowess, the Redmi 5A lacks with a smaller battery offering. The smartphone is fuelled by a 3,000mAh battery. YU Ace has a bigger 4,000mAh battery claimed to offer a full day's power on a single charge.

On the software front, YU Ace runs Android 8.0 Oreo out-of-the-box. The smartphone's Xiaomi competitor runs the older Android 7.1.2 Nougat.

Camera

In the photography department, YU Ace sports a 13-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. Redmi 5A also has a 13-megapixel rear camera with f/2.2 aperture, and a 5-megapixel front camera with f/2.0 aperture. Although the camera configurations are the same, performance will be determined only after a thorough test.

Takeaways,

While both phones pack almost the same hardware under the hood, YU Ace has more to offer on the table. The smartphone precedes with trending features like an 18:9 display, face unlock and dual 4G VoLTE.