The Redmi K50i gives flagship performance but it comes with a cost.
Xiaomi has been doing quite well in the market with its Redmi and Mi series of devices. Still, of late it has brought back the K series which focuses on performance and gaming experience as we saw with the Redmi K20 series with both the Redmi K20 and the Redmi K20 Pro. Now Xiaomi is back with its Redmi K smartphone in the form of the Redmi K50i.
The Redmi K50i sports a powerful Mediatek Dimensity 8100 chipset which is found on many flagship smartphones and this makes it a very unique smartphone thus providing the best gaming performance in the mid-range segment. Other than that it brings some features like a 144Hz IPS LCD display, a good set of triple cameras, a 5080mAh battery with 67W Fast charging, etc.
So comparing the fierce competition between many smartphones from different brands, can the newer Redmi K50i makes it worth considering? Let’s find out in the full review.
Redmi K50i Design:
The Redmi K50i sports a very simplistic design with no flashy design elements at the back as you get a polycarbonate back with a frosted finish, so it does not catch fingerprints or smudges and the back is curved around the sides. The back has a rectangular camera module which consists of triple cameras with a LED flashlight. The back also has an IP53 rating which makes it splash and water-resistant.
The Redmi K50i weighs around 200grams which makes it slightly heavier as it brings along a 5080mAh battery. Around the sides, there is a polycarbonate frame that houses a power button which doubles up as a fingerprint scanner and volume buttons whereas the left side remains cleaner. At the bottom, there is a USB Type-C port, a loudspeaker grille, a primary microphone, and a dual SIM card slot.
There is no microSD card slot for storage expansion and on the top, there is a second speaker grille which acts as a stereo speaker with that, there is a secondary noise-cancelling microphone, an IR Blaster to control various devices and a 3.5mm headphone jack. On the front, there is a single punch-hole display with slightly thicker bezels around the sides.
Overall, the build and design is just simplistic and do not feel as premium as the glass back on other smartphones.
Redmi K50i Display:
The Redmi K50i sports a 6.6-inches FFS (1080×2400 pixels) IPS LCD display with a screen-to-body ratio of 20:9. The display is not an AMOLED one which is slightly disappointing as the colour reproduction is not as good as that of an AMOLED display, but still, colours look good while watching any content. The viewing angles could have been better as you get some blue tint around the corners of the display.
The display has a 144Hz refresh rate which makes things smoother on the display and this refresh rate is an adaptive one where it switches between either 30Hz, 48Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz depending on the content on the display. MIUI also provides two different settings – Default and Custom where the default setting will adjust the refresh rate automatically and the Custom setting has 60Hz, 90Hz and 144Hz.
Coupled with the 144Hz refresh rate, there is a 270Hz touch sampling rate that provides faster touch responses during gaming and other multi-tasking things. In terms of brightness, the display on the Redmi K50i can reach a peak brightness of 650nits which is good for an LCD display and under direct sunlight, the visibility is good but still, it is not as good as an AMOLED display.
On the front, the smartphone is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. The display offers different colour settings to choose and you can either set it to a warmer or cooler tone. The Redmi K50i has support for HDR on YouTube and there is Widevine L1 support so you can stream HDR content on Netflix, Prime, etc there is also support for Dolby Vision.
Overall, the display is good for media consumption but still, the lack of an AMOLED display is slightly disappointing.
Redmi K50i Performance:
The biggest talking point about the Redmi K50i is the powerful chipset that it packs which is the Mediatek Dimensity 8100 found on some budget flagship smartphones like the OnePlus 10R and the Realme GT Neo 3. In terms of daily tasks, the smartphone can handle all things easily and the gaming experience is excellent on it whether you are playing lighter or heavy games.
In BGMI, the smartphone could run at HDR graphics with Ultra frame rates and it could easily run at 90fps frame rate with Smooth graphics. Redmi has also given a dedicated gaming mode that works very well and you can block incoming calls or notifications during gaming. Other games like Apex Legends, Call Of Duty, etc ran at the highest graphics easily without any frame drops or stutters.
After long hours of gaming, the smartphone did not feel warmer much since Xiaomi has equipped a liquid cooling system which consists of seven layers that dissipate heat faster. In CPU throttling tests, the smartphone could maintain a sustained performance of around 85-90 per cent with no throttling as such and in benchmarks also, the scores are the best in the price segment.
In terms of network connectivity, there is support for good carrier aggregation and support for 12 bands of 5G which is really good. The Redmi K50i is available in three different variants – 6GB RAM with 128GB storage, 8GB RAM with 128GB storage and another 8GB RAM with 256GB storage where RAM speeds are of LPDDR5 and the storage speeds are of UFS 3.1.
Overall, the performance and the gaming experience are the segment best on the Redmi K50i.
Redmi K50i Software:
The Redmi K50i runs on the latest MIUI 13 with Android 12 out of the box. In terms of software optimizations, MIUI has been getting better with each of its updates as it brings along some CPU and battery improvements. Like all MIUI versions, you get Control Center where you get all the controls and also the notification centre where you get multiple notifications.
There are a couple of Android 12 features like an enhanced Privacy Dashboard where you can see which applications are using the camera, microphone and the location, all the widgets are present that can be used on the home screen and depending on the wallpaper, the colour is applied to some parts of the user interface.
However, there is some amount of bloatware present in the form of third-party applications which can be uninstalled and some Mi-specific applications also. MIUI 13 brings some improvements in RAM management also. In terms of software updates, Xiaomi has promised another two years of AndroidOS updates and three years of security patches which is good.
Redmi K50i Cameras:
The Redmi K50i sports a triple camera setup that houses a 64MP f/1.9 Samsung GW1 sensor for the main camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. On the front, there is a 16MP f/2.4 camera.
The images from the main camera come out with a good amount of details that look sharper but the dynamic range is not so good as most of the subjects in the image look dull and the colours look undersaturated with some amount of noise present in the background. The HDR images come out with good dynamic range and low noise.
At night, the images come out with good details but they look slightly softer and there is a lot of oversharpening in the background. The noise is present on the higher side and the dynamic range is just average. With the night mode turned on, the images come out with slightly sharper details and the dynamic range is improved slightly but still, exposure in the background takes a hit and is not so good.
The 8MP ultrawide camera does a good job in terms of details and the dynamic range is just average. Since you get a larger 120-degree field of view, more subjects are present in the frame but around the sides, there is a lot of distortion and noise present. Similar is the case at night, where the images have softer details with a lot of noise present.
The 2MP macro camera does a decent job in terms of macro images. Since it is a fixed focus camera, it can only go as closer as 4cm only near an object so you get details that look softer, noise is present and the dynamic range is also poor. It is better to use the main camera by applying a 2x digital zoom by going closer to a subject.
In terms of portraits, the edge detection is good with proper background blur present but the human skin tones look slightly washed out and there is a lot of oversharpening present in the background. On the front, the selfies from the 16MP camera come out with details that look sharper and the dynamic range is also good but the skin tones look slightly washed out and also a lot of noise is present in the background.
In terms of videos, the main camera can only record 4K videos at 30fps and these videos have details that look sharper and dynamic range is quite good but the videos have a lot of noise present since it lacks OIS and also the colours do not look good. Switching to 1080p videos at 60fps, the details look better and the colours look well saturated with low noise since EIS works in this setting.
The ultrawide camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps and these videos have good dynamic range but there is a large amount of noise present. The front camera can record 1080p videos at 30fps and the videos come out with good dynamic range but the colours look undersaturated slightly. Overall, the cameras are good but still, there are a lot of improvements needed.
Redmi K50i Battery Life:
The Redmi K50i sports a larger 5080mAh battery which can easily last for two days with normal usage with the display set to 144Hz and since you get a 7-stage Adaptive Sync refresh rate, the battery life is very good as it depends on the application running in the background. With heavy usage, the smartphone easily lasted a single day with some charge left.
The standard screen-on time was around 6-7 hours which is very good considering the excellent battery optimizations provided by MIUI 13. In terms of charging, the Redmi K50i supports 67W fast charging with the dedicated fast charger bundled inside the box which takes around 40-45 minutes and could have been faster but still you get very good battery life.
Redmi K50i Audio Quality:
The Redmi K50i sports a dual stereo speaker setup that sounds very loud and clear. The bass level is very good and since you get dedicated speakers both at the top as well as the bottom, the clarity of sound at the loudest settings is very good. There is support for Dolby Atmos and Hi-Res audio. Also, you get a 3.5mm headphone jack and the sound quality from it is very good.
Verdict:
Overall the Redmi K50i is a very good smartphone that sets the benchmarks when it comes to performance and gaming in the mid-range segment. The Mediatek Dimensity 8100 chipset in the Redmi K50i makes many other smartphones into admiration. Other than that, you get a simplistic design, a 144Hz IPS display for media consumption and a good battery life with faster charging.
These are the features that make it stand out but still, there are areas where Xiaomi has cut corners to price it aggressively as the build and design are made up of polycarbonate since most of the smartphones in this segment have a glass back, the display is IPS LCD instead of AMOLED, the cameras are decent but not the best, and though the software experience is good, you do have some bloatware present.
So considering other smartphones in this price segment, there are many smartphones that have a premium glass build, AMOLED displays, and a better set of cameras compared to the Redmi K50i but if you want the best gaming performance and solid battery life without taking the build and design, display and cameras as a priority, then the Redmi K50i is worth considering.