Xiaomi Redmi 5 vs Redmi 4 [Specs Comparison]: Is The Full Screen Display Worth The Upgrade?

Xiaomi has announced the successor to its Redmi series in the form of the new Redmi 5. Launched on March 14, the new Redmi 5 carries Xiaomi’s new-found trend of near bezel-less displays in a budget. The smartphone sports an 18:9 Full-Screen display with minimum bezels on the top and the bottom. In addition, it also boasts of being the slimmest Redmi smartphone till date.

Xiaomi has priced the Redmi 5 smartly, starting at Rs 7,999 for the 2GB RAM and 16GB memory variant. The company had launched the Redmi 4, the predecessor to Redmi 5, at a same price. So what all does the latest Redmi smartphone has to add to the legacy of the series? Here is a look at the new features in the Redmi 5, and whether an upgrade for the Redmi 4 users is a viable option or not.

Design

The Redmi 5 comes with a taller and more importantly, a slimmer shell than the Redmi 4. The Redmi 5 measures 151.8mm in height, 72.8 mm in width and only 7.7 mm in thickness. With these dimensions, it is slightly heavier than the Redmi 4, weighing at 157 grams.

Redmi 4, on the other hand, measures 139.24mm x 69.96mm x 8.65mm. That is 1mm thicker than the Redmi 5. But it weighs less, at 150 grams.

Also read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Review: Playing it Safe in 2018

Display

The displays of the devices are one of the major difference between the Redmi 5 and the Redmi 4. Since Xiaomi wanted to opt for a Full Screen display on the new Redmi smartphone, it ditched the older look as found on the Redmi 4. Hence the new structural dimensions.

While the Redmi 4 sported optimum bezels surrounding a 5-inch HD display with 1280x720 pixels resolution, the Redmi 5 carries a way more modern look in comparison. The Redmi 5 comes with a 5.7-inch HD+ display with an 18:9 aspect ratio and a 1440 x 720 pixels resolution. Rest of the specifications, including the brightness and colour are equal.

Xiaomi also claims to have rounded off the edges of the screen for a better viewing experience, with a 2.5D screen edge.

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The Redmi 5 is powered by a more powerful, octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 SoC clocked at 1.8GHz.

Redmi 4 is limited to an octa-core Snapdragon 435 processor which is clocked at max 1.4GHz.

The RAM and storage options on both the smartphone are the same.

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Camera

It looks like Xiaomi aimed to achieve a better low-light photography on the Redmi 5 as compared to its predecessor. The smartphone comes with a 12-megapixel primary sensor with a f/2.2 aperture. In addition, Xiaomi has also added a single LED flash, a feature that was missing from the Redmi 4’s camera module. The Redmi 4’s camera comes with a 13-megapixel sensor with a smaller, f/2.0 aperture.

At the front, both the smartphones come with a 5-megapixel selfie shooter with Beautify 3.0 and facial recognition.

Battery

Surprisingly, Xiaomi has come up with a smaller battery on the Redmi 5 than it offered on the Redmi 4. While the latter is backed by a 4100 mAh battery, the new Redmi 5 comes with only a 3300 mAh battery.

This, on top of a larger display, might just limit the battery backup of the device at a noticeable level.

Connectivity

The only upgrade here is a Bluetooth v4.2 on the Redmi 5 in place of the v4.1 found on the Redmi 4.

Worth the upgrade?

Xiaomi Redmi 5 offers a couple of reasons for an upgrade from a previous Redmi series smartphone. The strongest one of them is the new Full-Screen display and the modernistic look and feel of the device. Performance-wise, the Redmi 5 might not be a huge add-on though.

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