Redmi Note 10 Pro vs Mi 10i - Same but not the same - Android

Xiaomi unveiled the new Note 10 series in India today which consists of the Redmi Note 10 Pro that comes with a great price to performance ratio. It has a Snapdragon chipset, a display that is rarely (or maybe not ever) seen in any other devices at this price.

The smartphone is great but we hope you haven't forgotten the Mi 10i that is also a great mid-ranger. Does the Redmi Note 10 Pro undercut the Mi 10i or does Mi 10i still provide a better value for the money? Let's take a look. 

Design & Display 

While the design of the Mi 10i is a unique one with a circular camera array, the design of the Redmi Note 10 Pro is what Xiaomi is calling the 'Evol' design, that walks on the lines of the same design as the Mi 11.

There's a rectangular camera array on the Redmi Note 10 Pro which to us looks more modern and aesthetic than the Mi 10i. Both the smartphones look good but the Redmi Note 10 Pro in our opinion steals the show.

For the display, the Redmi Note 10 Pro features the same display as the Note 10 Pro Max. It sports a 6.67-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz, HDR10 certification and 1200 nits of brightness. It is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. 

The Xiaomi Mi 10i features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ LCD display with a screen resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, 450 nits brightness and refresh rate of 120Hz and touch sampling rate of 240Hz.

The winner in the display department is, hands down, the Redmi Note 10 Pro as an AMOLED display will give you more accurate and punchy colours along with a much brighter display that will help you in outdoor visibility. 

Read More: Redmi Note 10 Series launched in India with Qualcomm Snapdragon chips, Super AMOLED displays and more

Software & Performance 

The Mi 10i is powered by the Snapdragon 750G. The device comes with 6GB or 8GB of RAM along with 64GB or 128GB of storage options. The device runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 11.

The Redmi Note 10 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 732G with max clock speed of 2.3Ghz paired with Adreno 618 GPU. You get up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. The storage is expandable up to 512GB via MicroSD card. On the software front, the smartphone runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 11 and will be one of the first devices to upgrade to MIUI 12.5. 

Storage, RAM and software remain identical on both of them but the processor is where they differ. The Mi 10i sports a better processor that will help you in heavy gaming. While the Redmi Note 10 Pro will also handle gaming decently, the experience will be considerably better on Mi 10i.

But if you are not a gamer, the Redmi Note 10 Pro and the Mi 10i will perform identical to each other in day-to-day scenarios. Even the software experience will be the exact same as both of them run on MIUI 12 based on Android 11 and are also upgradable to MIUI 12.5.

Cameras

For the optics, the Redmi Note 10 Pro features a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, a 2MP depth sensor and a 5MP super-macro sensor. On the front, the phone features a 16MP selfie shooter. 

The Mi 10i sports a quad-camera set-up on the back with a 108MP camera, the Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor. Other sensors include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 2-megapixel macro sensor and 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies and video chats, the Mi 10i houses a 16MP front-facing camera. 

We feel the daylight shots will be better on the Mi 10i while other shots such as wide-angle pictures and portrait shots should be more or less the same. The macro shots, though, will be better on the Redmi Note 10 Pro as Xiaomi is using a new Super-macro sensor that will provide better results. 

This is just a speculation while for the exact results, both will have to be put side-by-side to declare which one has a better camera. 

Battery

The Mi 10i has a 4820mAh battery that comes with 33W fast charging support while the Redmi Note 10 Pro is backed by a 5020mAh battery that also supports 33W fast charging with the charger provided in-box.  

The battery backup will be slightly better on the Redmi Note 10 Pro as it sports a bigger battery while the charging time should be similar if not the same. 

Price

The Redmi Note 10 Pro is priced at Rs 15,999 for 6GB + 64GB variant, Rs 16,999 for the 6GB + 128GB variant and Rs 18,999 for the 8GB + 128GB variant. 

The Mi 10i though, is priced at Rs 20,999 for the 6GB + 64GB storage variant, Rs 21,999 for the 6GB + 128GB storage option and the 8GB + 128GB storage option is priced at Rs 23,999 

In our opinion, if you are not into heavy gaming and can bear a slightly lower performing camera when compared to Mi 10i, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is a much better choice as the overall experience just enhances a lot more when using an AMOLED display. Both of them have fingerprint sensors, dual-stereo speakers but we think the Redmi Note 10 Pro definitely undercuts the Mi 10i when it comes to price-to-performance ratio.