Without missing a beat after the runaway success of the Redmi Note 5 Pro, Xiaomi has come up with a new offering to dominate the Indian smartphone market in the next half of 2018. The Xiaomi Mi A2 will be coming to India on August 8, as has been confirmed by Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India head. The Mi A2, in summary, is a Mi 6X that runs the stock Android under the Android One instead of MIUI. It succeeds the Mi A1, the first Android One device launched by the Chinese tech giant in September last year.
Given that Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro has been selling like hot cakes in India, it will be prudent to take it as a benchmark to gauge how the latest entrant, the Xiaomi Mi A2, fares on different fronts. Here's a comparison between the reigning mid-range champion by Xioami and what could be its most capable challenger so far:
Design and display
The Xiaomi Mi A2 borrows its design language from its predecessor, the Mi A1, whereas the Redmi Note 5 Pro incorporated the conventional Redmi design elements. While the Mi A2 comes with the hidden antenna lines for a cleaner look at the back, those on the Redmi Note 5 Pro are very much visible at the top and the bottom. The vertically-stacked dual camera set in the top left corner and the fingerprint sensor in the back are common to both the devices.
Displays on both phones have 18:9 aspect ratios and measure 5.99-inches. These panels come with a FullHD+ resolution and a screen-to-body ratio of 77.4 per cent. Both devices - the Mi A2 as well as the Redmi Note 5 Pro - come equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass for protecting the screen against nicks and scratches.
Performance and battery
The Mi A2 comes with an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, with four Kryo 260 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and the another four at 1.8GHz. On the other hand, the Redmi Note 5 Pro boasts a newer Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset, which, however, is clocked at a lower 1.8GHz. Graphics processing on the Mi A2 is handled by Adreno 512, whereas the Redmi Note 5 Pro has Adreno 509 GPU.
Memory-wise, the Mi A2 comes with 4GB RAM coupled with either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, as well as 6GB along with 128GB internal memory. In case of the Redmi Note 5 Pro, there are two variants - one with 4GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage and another with 6GB of RAM and 64GB internal storage. While the storage on Redmi Note 5 Pro could be expanded up to 256GB via microSD card, the Mi A2 comes without any memory expansion capabilities.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 sports a 3,000mAh battery for power, whereas the Redmi Note 5 Pro has a 4,000mAh battery.
Camera
Both the Mi A2 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro sport dual rear camera set-ups. The former smartphone has a 12MP and 20MP sensor at the back with a large aperture of f/1.75. The 20megapixel sensor comes with pixel binning technology, which combines four pixels into one for better sharpness.
The front camera is also a 20megapixel sensor with large pixel size and aperture of f/2.2. The front camera uses AI for different modes. Despite being a single-lens setup at the front, the selfie camera supports bokeh effect. It also comes equipped with pixel binning technology.
The Redmi Note 5 Pro, on the other hand, has a 12MP primary camera at the back with a 5MP sensor for capturing depth information. The 12MP sensor has an aperture of f/2.2, whereas the 5MP snapper is on f/2.0. The front camera is a 20MP sensor with f/2.2 aperture.
Xiaomi has emphasised big time on the use of AI in cameras of both the devices.
Operating system
The Mi A2 runs stock Android 8.1 Oreo and comes affiliated with Google's Android One programme. This means that the device will be one of the first to receive security and software updates for the coming years as and when they come. The Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat out of the box.
Price
On its launch in Madrid, The Mi A2 has been priced at 249 euros (roughly Rs 20,000) for the base model with 4GB RAM and 32GB internal storage. The 4GB+64GB internal storage variant is priced at 279 euros (roughly Rs 22,500). The most expensive device cost 349 euros (roughly Rs 28,100) with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage.
The 4GB variant of Redmi Note 5 Pro has been priced at Rs 14,999, whereas the 6GB variant sells for Rs 16,999.
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