The Redmi K30 Pro is Xiaomi’s new price-performance champion
Xiaomi has announced the Redmi K30 Pro, its latest high-spec-low-price contender. It’s the sequel to the K20 Pro (in Asia) / Mi 9T Pro (in Europe), one of last year’s most buzzed-about phones — at least in the regions where Xiaomi actually sells phones.
Unlike the K20 Pro, the K30 Pro is visually quite a bit different from its non-Pro predecessor, which was launched in China in December. There’s a circular camera module with four lenses arranged in a square, and Xiaomi is also bringing back the pop-up selfie camera as opposed to the regular K30’s hole-punch cutout.
The K30 Pro has a Snapdragon 865 processor, which means it also offers 5G support. The 6.67 inch screen is a 1080p AMOLED panel with HDR10+, although it looks like the refresh rate is a standard 60Hz, which puts it out of step with most 2020 flagship phones.
The camera system has a 64-megapixel primary sensor, a 13-megapixel ultrawide, a 2-megapixel macro camera, and a 5-megapixel telephoto that also has macro capabilities. Xiaomi is particularly talking up the magnification ability of that last camera, though a higher end “zoom edition” of the phone swaps it out for a telephoto that can shoot up to 30x hybrid zoom.
Other specs include 8K video recording, a headphone jack, IP53 water resistance, NFC, Wi-Fi 6, a 4,700mAh battery, and 33W fast charging over USB-C. Xiaomi also claims the K30 Pro has a much better haptic feedback system powered by a linear motor, which should help fix one of the drawbacks of the K20 Pro.
The K30 Pro will launch in China first and should come to India later. It may well see an eventual release in Europe, too, but if the K20 Pro is any indication it could be rebranded as the Mi 10T.
In China, the range starts at 2,999 yuan ($425) for a K30 Pro with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, with multiple configurations priced between that and the 3,999-yuan ($565) 8GB/256GB K30 Pro Zoom. That should set it up as a capable competitor to Realme’s similarly equipped X50 Pro, unless the lack of a high refresh rate is a dealbreaker.
Xiaomi has announced the Redmi K30 Pro, its latest high-spec-low-price contender. It’s the sequel to the K20 Pro (in Asia) / Mi 9T Pro (in Europe), one of last year’s most buzzed-about phones — at least in the regions where Xiaomi actually sells phones. Unlike the K20 Pro, the K30…
