After what seems like endless waiting, Xiaomi fans in India are in for a treat today with the launch of the Snapdragon version of Redmi Note 3.
The company has just revealed officially that it will soon launch the Note 3 in the country.
The phone, which comes with a fingerprint scanner and a full-HD display, is likely to be priced in the Rs 15,000 range due to its superior specifications compared to the Lenovo K4, which costs only Rs 12,000 in India.
It is possible that there would be a 2 GB RAM + 16 GB storage version as well as a 3+32 GB high-end version. If that is the case, then we could be looking at a pricing of around Rs 14,000 for the cheaper model and Rs 17,000 for the 32 GB version.
The K4 has 3 GB of RAM and 16 GB of internal memory and is priced at Rs 12,000.
The Indian prices cannot really be compared to those in China, where the model is sold at about Rs 9,400 for the 2 GB version and Rs 11,600 for the 32 GB version.
For one, the Indian version has a 16 MP camera, instead of the 13 MP unit on the Chinese version, with f/2.0 aperture lens and phase-detection auto-focus technology which helps the camera focus in just 0.1 second.
The Indian variant of Redmi Note 3 also comes with Snapdragon 650 hexa core processor, which is costlier than the Helio X10 chipset found inside the Chinese models, making the Indian version about 50% more expensive than the Chinese.
However, it is also twice as powerful as the MT6753 found inside the Lenovo K4, and even surpasses even the high-end Snapdragon 810.
The K4 Note’s MT6753 scores about 625 in single-core mode and 2900 in all-core mode on Geekbench. The Snapdragon 650, found inside the Redmi Note 3, scores about 1350 in single mode and 4900 in six-core mode. (This translates to a score of between 50,000 and 60,000 on Antutu.)
The Helio X10 scores on Geekbench is 1000 and 5500, which means that the Indian variant of the Note 3 is largely comparable to the Chinese variant in terms of overall power. It may, however, appear snappier because of better single-threaded performance. (Some apps use only one core even if more are available.)
Coming back to K4, the Xiaomi model also has a bigger, 4 Ah battery compared to the 3.3 Ah unit in the Lenovo model.
The higher processing power could make all the difference in sales between the two models in India due to the phenomenon of ‘trading up’. As a market matures, more and more people tend to be willing to spend more and more money that was the case earlier.
The reason for the big increase in power is the introduction of Cortex A72 technology.
While Cortex A53, which is the dominant standard at present, scores only around 800 points in Geekbench 3, Cortex A72 cores score nearly three times as much — 2250.
The Snapdragon 650 is the first mid-range processor to come with Cortex A72 technology.
Using all cores, high-end Cortex A72 chips score above 7,000 points on Geekbench. In Antutu, scores cross the 1 lakh mark.
In 2016, most of the phones priced above Rs 30,000 will come with Cortex A72, with the result that software and game developers will create more and more apps that require a lot of power for operation. For example, Lenovo’s new entry-level model (price Rs 7,200 in China) called Lemon 3 comes with a more powerful processor compared to the K4.
While the MT6753 (K4) scores about 625 and 2900 in single and multi core tests, the SD 616 inside the Lemon manages 750 and 3100 (though it’s not based on Cortex A72).
However, the Lenovo K4 is not the only model that Lenovo has to counter the Redmi Note 3 in India. The Chinese major is also planning to soon launch the Vibe X3, which is more than a match for the Xiaomi model. However, the big catch is the price.
While the Mi model will be priced at around Rs 15,000, with the possibility of the number shooting up to Rs 17,000, the Lenovo Vibe X3 is very very unlikely to be priced below 18,000 and will most probably cost Rs 19,000-20,000 in India.
Xiaomi has faced much taunting and criticism online for its decision to hype the launch of an upgrade Note 1 in India last month.
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