Speaking of one-upmanship in pricing strategy, the Chinese phone maker Redmi is definitely starting an all-out war with its competitors. On May 28th in Beijing, the then sub-brand of Xiaomi announced probably the cheapest Snapdragon 855 flagship in the world: the Redmi K20 Pro.
Coming in blue, red or black, the K20 Pro starts at 2,499 Yuan, or roughly $487 CAD, for the base 6+64GB model. But, for 2,599, or $506, you get the 6+128GB model, which really makes the base model seem rather pointless. The 8+128GB model costs 2,799 Yuan, or $545 while the top 8+256GB variant is only 2,999 Yuan, or $584. The official prices are even lower than the rumored prices Mobilesyrup reported using an earlier leak. There is an Avengers: Endgame themed limited edition, but Redmi did not disclose pricing details for the Marvel fans.
Regardless, the new flagship killer has almost all the bells and whistles usually reserved for more expensive flagships, including the aggressively priced Xiaomi Mi9.
The K20 Pro has a 3.5mm headphone jack for dongle haters.
There is a 2340x1080p Samsung AMOLED display with DC dimming feature to reduce flickering. Because there is no notch, a 20 megapixels mechanical pop-up camera, with a claimed 30k activation cycles, is responsible for your selfie duty. Aside from those features, the spec sheet includes a massive 4000mah battery, NFC, dual-band GPS, dual sim slots, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. There is no IP-rated water resistance or a stereo speaker setup. The phone supports Xiaomi’s latest 27w quick charging standard, but the box comes with an 18w charger.
The K20 Pro also has three cameras in the back. The primary camera has a 48 megapixels Sony IMX 586 sensor. Right next to the main shooter is the eight megapixels telephoto with 2x optical zoom and a 13 megapixels ultrawide camera. Since there is no fancy OIS, the main camera uses software-based EIS, or electronic image stabilization, to counter shaky hands.
Redmi also announced the junior flagship K20. It retains almost all the features on the bigger brother but downgrades the Snapdragon 855 to the lesser Snapdragon 730. The primary camera is lowered to the somewhat unfamiliar Sony IMX 582 48 megapixels sensor, and the charging speed is reduced to 18w. The 6+64GB model costs 1,999 Yuan, or $389 CAD. The 6+128GB model only sees a slight bump to 2,099 Yuan, or $408.
For mainland China, pre-order of both phones start on June 1st.
