Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 With a 48MP Camera is the New Midrange Champion

Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series has always focused on the essentials, a large battery, a large display, and a good mid-range processor. Today, the company’s CEO, Lei Jun, took the covers off of the latest Redmi Note phone, namely the Redmi Note 7.

He also officially announced the Redmi sub-brand for Xiaomi, which will operate as a separate entity like Oppo’s Realme brand or Huawei’s Honor brand.

Back to the phone, the Redmi Note 7 continues to follow the same formula but also brings some important updates to the series.

Let’s go into more detail.

Design and Display

The first major change is visible on the front of the phone, where Xiaomi has replaced the large iPhone-style notch with a smaller and more manageable waterdrop notch. This also frees up more screen space in the process.

It comes with a glass sandwich (glass on front and back) build this time with a gradient finish (like Honor phones), a major upgrade in terms of looks for the Note series.

Redmi Note 7 has a 6.3-inch Full HD+ IPS LCD display at the front with a selfie camera hidden in the notch. The screen to body ratio is 84% which is good but not great.

The back of the phone looks similar to the Redmi Note 6, but the camera module has seen a small change with the two cameras now placed in a single, large, protruding module and the LED flash in a separate island below the cameras.

Oh, there’s still a headphone jack on it (at the top), no Apple treatment by Xiaomi here.

Internals and Storage

On the inside, Redmi Note 7 will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC, which isn’t exactly new but it’s capable enough with its 2.2 GHz octa-core processor. It comes in 3 different RAM and storage variants:

• 3 GB RAM/32 GB storage
• 4 GB RAM/64 GB storage
• 6 GB RAM/64 GB storage

It will most likely be running Android 9.0 Pie with a MIUI 10 skin on top of that.

Cameras

Normally, Redmi Note phones have average cameras and aren’t exactly known for having great camera results. That’s about to change with the Redmi Note 7 which will house a massive 48 MP (Sony IMX586) camera on the back with a second 5 MP shooter for portrait mode. The 48 MP shooter will use a Quad-Bayer filter and will be able to compress the images to 12 MP for greater quality just like Huawei’s flagship Mate series.

On the front, there’s a single 13 MP sensor.

Battery and Price

Lastly, Redmi Note 7 has a 4,000 mAh battery, just like most of its predecessors. However, there are two major upgrades here. First, it’ll have fast charging enabled using Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4.0. Redmi Note phones never had fast charging so you were stuck with a slow charging 4,000 mAh unit. Not anymore.

The second major change is that Xiaomi has finally added a USB-type C port on the Redmi Note 7, after several iterations of using the old microUSB port.

It will be available in Blue, Twilight Gold and Black colors initially.

As for the price, Redmi Note 7 will start at CNY 999 (~Rs. 20,500) for the 3 GB/32 GB model, CNY 1,199 (~Rs. 24,500) for the 4/64 GB variant and CNY 1,399 (~Rs. 28,500) for the 6/64 GB version.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Specifications

• CPU: 8x Qualcomm Kryo 260 CPU
• GPU: Adreno 512
• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660
• OS: Android 9.0 Pie, MIUI 10
• Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE;
• Display:
  • 6.3-inch 19:9 aspect ratio with FHD+ (2280 x 1080) resolution, waterdrop notch
• Memory:
  • RAM: 3/4/6 GB
  • Internal: 32/64 GB
  • Card slot: yes, up to 256 GB
• Camera:
  • Primary: Dual: 48 MP + 5 MP f/2.0, depth sensor
  • Secondary: 13 MP
• Connectivity: LTE, USB type-C, GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, headphone jack
• Fingerprint scanner (rear-mounted)
• Battery: 4000 mAh, Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0
• Price: (3 GB/32 GB) ~Rs. 20,500, (4 GB/ 64 GB) ~Rs. 24,500, (6 GB/ 64 GB) ~Rs. 28,500