What to sum up about the Xiaomi Redmi K30? A small step for performance, and a huge leap for display. It feels like instead of being a successor to the K20, it is the Redmi Note 8’s premium version. Putting family relations aside, this is the first-ever Redmi device that has a high refresh rate display. The device was launched on March 24 in China first and will be released in the Indian market soon.

Just like other smartphones from Chinese smartphone-makers, the Redmi K30 is only a mid-range in a few key areas. In others, it can easily beat high-end flagships.

Comes with a fast 120Hz IPS LCD display, four rear cameras, and a 4,500mAh battery, it feels like the Redmi K30 is worth more than asking.

Display

The Redmi K30 is the first Xiaomi phone that has a high refresh rate display. You may think the phone’s large 6.67-inch IPS LCD screen is just like other 1080p displays that you have seen lately. However, the 120Hz refresh rate is a game-changer with a more fluid MIUI. With games going beyond 60fps, you can have buttery-smooth gameplay.

The big screen is HDR10 capable as well. Xiaomi has managed to minimize the notch by placing the two selfie cameras insides a small punch hole, just like on the Galaxy S10+ from Samsung.

Smooth gaming is what you should expect from the Redmi K30. And viewing and gaming experience aren’t the only things that the Redmi K30 can do well.

Most of the front is taken by the huge 6.67-inch display, leaving quite thin bezels. Like other modern smartphones, the Redmi K30 has curved edges. But the long punch-hole isn’t that common.

The screen’s LCD nature makes the punch hole look worse with uneven backlighting. And it is worst around the selfie hole. When the phone displays brighter content, the obvious shadows are visible, and it is annoying.

Putting that aside, the 6.67-inch screen still looks quite good. There are more than enough pixels for the display to look sharp. And it also supports HDR10. However, the real treat here is the phone’s 120Hz refresh rate.

Not sporting an AMOLED screen means that Xiaomi can integrate the fingerprint to the display. So the scanner is placed on the right side of the phone and it also acts as a power/lock key.

Chip

The Xiaomi Redmi K30 is powered by the Snapdragon 730G chip, which is one of Qualcomm’s most powerful upper-midrange processors. In terms of hardware,  the Snapdragon 730G is basically identical to the one used on the Redmi K20.

Both the 730 chip and 730G have the same CPUs. They are octa-core processors with six Kryo 470 Silver cores running at 1.8 GHz and two Kryo 470 Gold ones working at 2.2 GHz. Built on an 8nm LPP node, they are pretty power-efficient.

Both chips use the Adreno 618 DSP. The one used on the 730G is at 75MHz higher while sitting at 575 MHz. This is the only difference between the Redmi K30 and Redmi K20, in terms of hardware.

Most of the time, the performance of the Redmi K30 and the Redmi K20 is on par. The Snapdragon 730G is a very potent chip. There are games that can be played at higher than 60fps, making use of the 120Hz display. Among 120GPS-enabled games, Dead Trigger 2 is the only one that can go beyond 60fps.  

RAM – Internal storage

The cheapest model has 6GB of RAM with 64GB internal storage. While the more expensive one has 8GB of RAM with 256GB internal storage. A 5G variant is also available that causes $286 for the base model while the top-end model costs $414. 

Battery

The Redmi K30 houses a large 4,500mAh battery, just like the Redmi Note 8 Pro. Compared to the one used on the K20, Xiaomi adds 500mAh capacity more.

27W fast charging is supported. It only takes 30 minutes to charge a depleted battery to 56% and takes 69 minutes for a full charge.

The Redmi K30 does well in its battery test. On a call, the K30 can last almost two days. The result is also very good regarding its standby endurance.

When the screen’s refresh rate is 60Hz, you can browse the web or watch videos for over 16 hours. If you use a 120Hz refresh rate, you will lose 4 hours of video playback or 2 hours of web time. Users are more than willing to sacrifice some hours of runtime for overall smoothness.

Camera

The Redmi K30 has the same quad-camera like on the Note 8 Pro. The smartphone has a 64MP primary lens with an aperture of f/1.9, an 8MP camera with a 13mm f/2.2 lens, a 2MP macro lens with f/2.4 aperture, and a 2MP depth sensor.

There is only one difference, on the Note 8 Pro, Xiaomi used the ISOCELL GW1 64MP sensor from Samsung. But with the Redmi K30, it has switched to the IMX686 64MP from Sony.

A dual-LED is placed outside the camera hump. The 64MP main lens delivers 16MP photos. And in the daytime, the photos come out excellent with great contrast, plenty of details, and a rather high dynamic range. The colors are a bit too warm. The images look sharp. But some might think they are over-sharpened. From the viewfinder, you go for 2x zoom. You can take photos in the full 64MP resolution and they look quite good. The amount of detail is impressive. For such a large photo, it will take a second or two.

The 8MP ultrawide lens can produce photos with enough amount of detail as well as commendable contrast. However, the camera has a rather limited dynamic range and there’s nothing the HDR mode can do about this. The images are noisier and you can clearly see it.

The difference between the 2MP macro cam of the smartphone and other macro shooters is that it has autofocus.

The portrait photos produced by the 2MP depth sensor are very detailed with some fine-tuning but convincing blur.