Xiaomi’s Redmi launched the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro in India back in 2019 and they were quite popular back then. And after a gap of three years, the company finally launched a K-series smartphone in India, dubbed the Redmi K50i.
However, the Redmi K50i is not a brand new smartphone. It is a version of the Poco X4 GT that is available outside India. We already reviewed the Poco X4 GT and you can read its detailed review here, but let us tell you that there are some differences between the two smartphones as the Redmi K50i is not a completely rebadged X4 GT. Read on to find out about the differences.
Unboxing
First, let’s check the Redmi K50i’s retail box. Unlike the Poco X4 GT, which comes in a black colored box with yellow fonts, the Redmi K50i comes in a white box with a few smartphone features mentioned on one of the sides of the lid.
However, the contents of the box are the same. You get a protective case, a SIM eject tool and the usual paperwork. It also includes a USB-C cable and a 67W charger.
Design
The Redmi K50i is built around a 6.6″ FullHD+ Field Fringe Switching (FFS) LCD (X4 GT has IPS LCD) protected by Gorilla Glass 5. The panel has a 144Hz 7-step adaptive refresh rate and a 270Hz touch sampling rate, which can only achieved at a refresh rate of 90Hz or less The display also supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.
However, unlike the Redmi K20 and K20 Pro, the Redmi K50i does not come with a pop-up selfie camera. Its selfie camera – using a 16MP sensor – is inside the display’s centered hole.
Flip the Redmi K50i over and you have a polycarbonate back with a rectangular camera island and Redmi branding. The back cover is made of plastic, so you don’t get the premium feel in your hand that you would get from a glass back. However, the panel has a matte finish to compensate for that. It did a good job of preventing fingerprint smudges, but made the phone slippery at times.
We received the Phantom Blue version of the Redmi K50i, which looks great with its subtle shimmering pattern and changing hue when the light hits it from different angles.
The island on the back, which also has a matte finish, houses the triple-camera LED flash. It sticks out a bit, with two cameras jutting further forward, causing the smartphone to wobble when used on a flat surface.
The Redmi K50i has flat frames, where on the right side it houses the volume button and the on/off button. They are plasticy but have decent feedback.
The power button also doubles as a fingerprint scanner, and we found it to be quick and accurate. It also supports double-tap gestures so you can perform various actions, including taking a screenshot, launching the default camera app, and opening the Control Center.
At the bottom, the Redmi K50i has a USB-C port, flanked by a speaker grill and a dual-SIM card slot. Up top we have another speaker along with a 3.5mm headphone jack and an IR blaster.
Redmi K50i
The Redmi K50i is 8.9mm thick and weighs 200g. Given the screen diagonal of 6.6″, it’s a fair measure, but of course it’s no small phone.
Screen
The Redmi K50i’s 6.6″ LCD has a maximum brightness of 650 nits. It comes with DC dimming and supports HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG standards. It also has Widevine L1 certification, which means you can stream FullHD videos on supported OTT apps.
For an even better multimedia experience, you get Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. The latter is not present even on the more expensive Xiaomi 12T, powered by the Dimensity 8100-Ultra.
The Redmi K50i’s screen has good haptic feedback. It’s bright enough to read text content in bright conditions, and it comes with adaptive colors that adjust to ambient light. But what impressed us most about the Redmi K50i’s display is its high refresh rate implementation.
The K50i has 60Hz, 90Hz and 144Hz refresh rate options in the custom refresh rate menu and supports a total of seven refresh rates – 30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz. These change automatically depending on the content and your settings.
By default, the refresh rate is 120Hz for most system menus and apps, whether you’re interacting with the screen or just looking at it, except for YouTube (60Hz) and Google Photos (90Hz).
The refresh rate predictably remained at 60Hz in the 60Hz mode for everything, while the 90Hz mode was basically the default mode with the refresh rate down from 120Hz to 90Hz, except for Google Photos which remained limited to 60Hz.
However, things change with the 144Hz mode. The screen refreshed at 144Hz even for Google Photos, and while YouTube remained limited to 60Hz, in full-screen mode it matched the refresh rate of videos shot at a lower FPS. Some videos played at 30Hz, 48Hz and 50Hz in full-screen mode, and the panel switched to 60Hz when you interacted with the screen.
As for games, we tried Call of Duty Mobile, Dead Trigger 2, Real Racing 3 and Sky Force Reloaded on the Redmi K50i. With the exception of Call of Duty Mobile, we were able to play all other games at 90FPS (in 90Hz mode), 120FPS (in Standard mode) and 144FPS (in 144Hz mode).
The HRR implementation on the Redmi K50i is definitely better than the Poco X4 GT which only played Real Racing 3 and Sky Force Reloaded at 120FPS and the system never went up to 144Hz no matter what. It’s no use selling a phone with a 144Hz screen if the system won’t go up to 144Hz.
But the HRR implementation on the Redmi K50i is easily one of the best for a smartphone packing a non-LTPO type display. And if you’re someone for whom battery life is more important, then we’d suggest sticking with the 60Hz mode, or perhaps the 90Hz mode for a more balanced approach.
Software and performance
The Redmi K50i has the Dimensity 8100 SoC at the helm, along with the Mali-G610 MC6 GPU to handle graphically intensive tasks such as gaming and video editing. The smartphone has 6GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB memory variants. We received the latter, and whichever you choose, you get LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1 storage.
On the software front, the Redmi K50i starts Android 12-based MIUI 13.0.2 Global with the June 2022 Android security patch and currently runs MIUI 13.0.7 with the October 2022 security patch, which is not appreciated as December is almost over. The smartphone comes pre-installed with some third-party apps, but luckily most of them can be uninstalled if you want.
The software experience you get on the Redmi K50i is similar to the one you get on other Redmi devices running Android 12 and MIUI 13.
The Redmi K50i offered a fast, smooth everyday experience, talking web browsing, app switching and playing games with ease. There were almost no strains. The smartphone also remained reasonably cool even after over an hour of heavy gaming.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
-
Poco X4 GT
3719 -
Redmi K50i
3707 -
Poco F4 GT
3637 -
Realme GT Neo 3T
3180 -
Realme 10 Pro+
2371 -
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
2063 -
Galaxy A33 5G
1900
GeekBench 5 (single core)
Higher is better
-
Poco F4 GT
1244 -
Realme GT Neo 3T
1023 -
Poco X4 GT
917 -
Redmi K50i
916 -
Realme 10 Pro+
842 -
Galaxy A33 5G
742 -
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
688
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (on screen)
Higher is better
-
Realme GT Neo 3T
49 -
Redmi K50i
48 -
Poco X4 GT
46 -
Realme 10 Pro+
21 -
Galaxy A33 5G
20 -
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
17
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (on screen)
Higher is better
-
Redmi K50i
92 -
Realme GT Neo 3T
85 -
Poco X4 GT
54 -
Realme 10 Pro+
38 -
Galaxy A33 5G
35 -
Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
30
Camera and battery
The Redmi K50i packs four cameras – a 16MP selfie shooter on the front, with the primary 64MP camera on the back alongside 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro units. The selfie camera has f/2.5 aperture and can record videos in up to 1080p resolution at 30 FPS.
The primary 64 MP camera, on the other hand, has an f/1.9 aperture and can record videos in 1080p at up to 60 FPS and in 4K at 30 FPS. The 8MP ultrawide unit has a FOV of 120 degrees and an f/2.2 aperture, while the macro camera is f/2.4.
Since the Redmi K50i’s camera system is the same as the Poco X4 GT, you can check out our Poco X4 GT camera test here to get an idea of what to expect from the Redmi K50i in terms of photography.
The Redmi K50i, like the Poco X4 GT, has a 5,080 mAh battery under the hood with 67W wired charging support.
We couldn’t run our standard battery test on the Redmi K50i, but anecdotally we consistently got at least 6-6.5 hours of screen time on a single charge in 144Hz mode on Wi-Fi connectivity, with usage including internet browsing, using apps for social media, streaming 1080p YouTube videos and games.
When the battery runs out of juice, you can use the included 67W charging adapter, which is advertised to charge the Redmi K50i’s cell from flat to 50% in 15 minutes and 100% in 46 minutes.
In our tests, the Redmi K50i’s battery charged from flat to 35% in 15 minutes, 50% in 22 minutes, 64% in 30 minutes and 100% in 53 minutes. The Poco X4 GT charged more in 30 minutes (75% vs. 64%), but it also took longer for a full charge (57 minutes vs. 53 minutes) as it throttled much more aggressively.
Conclusion
Redmi K50i is offered in Stealth Black, Quick Silver and Phantom Blue colors. Its 6G/128GB model is currently priced at INR23,999 ($290/€272), and the 8GB/256GB version at INR26,999 ($326/€306) – that’s INR2,000 ($24/€22) less than the launch price. It’s a really good phone for the price for what you get – fast performance, good battery life with fast charging and impressive HRR implementation. The cameras also take decent pictures during the day.
The plastic back and LCD panel of the Redmi K50i could be a deal-breaker for some, and if that’s more important to you, then you might want to look elsewhere. Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge, known as Redmi Note 11 Pro+ outside India, is one of the options.
The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge is currently priced at INR24,999 ($302/€283) for the 6GB/128GB version and INR26,999 ($326/€306) for the 8GB/128GB model. It has an AMOLED display and has a glass back, while it also has 120W wired charging, 108MP primary camera and an IP53 rating.
However, the 11i HyperCharge is powered by the 6nm Dimensity 920 chip and comes with a 4,500 mAh battery, which translates to lower battery endurance than the Redmi K50i. You can read our Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge review to learn more about it.
