Introduction
One small step for performance, but a giant leap for display - that's what sums up the Xiaomi Redmi K30 quite nicely. It is like a premium version of the Redmi Note 8 Pro instead of a K20 successor, but family relations aside, it will go down in history as the first-ever Redmi with a high refresh rate display!
Indeed, the large 6.67" IPS LCD screen on the Redmi K30 may look like any other 1080p display you've seen lately, but the 120Hz refresh rate is an instant game-changer. The MIUI is fluid like never before, and games that can go beyond 60fps will present you with buttery-smooth gameplay.
The large screen is also HDR10 capable, and Xiaomi has tried to minimize the notch by putting the two selfie cameras inside a rather small punch hole - like on Galaxy S10+.
Smooth gaming should be quite possible, as the Redmi K30 boasts the Snapdragon 730G chip, which has been known for exactly that. Xiaomi coupled it with enough RAM no matter which version you get, too.
Gaming and viewing experience are not the only things the Redmi K30 excels in. The quad-camera at the back sounds great on paper, too - it has one of the largest sensors in the industry - a 64MP Sony IMX686 for its primary, and keeping it company is an 8MP ultrawide shooter, a 2MP macro cam, and a 2MP depth sensor.
Another interesting bit is the MIUI 11, which we see running on top of Android 10 for the first time.
Xiaomi Redmi K30 specs
- Body: Metal frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, 208g.
- Display: 6.67" IPS LCD, 120Hz, HDR10, 1080 x 2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi.
- Rear camera: Primary: 64MP, f/1.89 aperture, 1/1.7" sensor size, 0.8µm pixel size, PDAF. Ultra wide: 8MP, f/2.2, 1/4", 1.12µm pixels. Macro camera: 2MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm. Depth sensor: 2MP; 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@960fps video recording.
- Front camera: Primary: 20MP, f/2.2 aperture, 0.9µm pixels. Depth sensor: 2MP; 1080p/30fps video recording.
- OS: Android 10; MIUI 11.
- Chipset: Snapdragon 730G (8nm): Octa-core (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
- Memory: 6/8GB of RAM; 64/128/256GB UFS 2.1 storage; shared microSD slot.
- Battery: 4,500mAh; 27W fast charging.
- Connectivity: Dual-SIM; LTE-A, 4-Band carrier aggregation, LTE Cat-12/ Cat-13; USB-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; dual-band GPS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio; NFC; IR blaster.
- Misc: Side-mounted fingerprint reader; 3.5mm audio jack.
Some Redmi K20 users may be a bit disappointed by the switch from OLED to LCD, but it is what it is. And the Snapdragon 730G is hardly an upgrade over the regular 730 version inside the K20. But probably the most obvious omission will be the dedicated zoom camera, which has been replaced with the far less popular macro shooter.
Redmi K30 and Redmi K20
But enough introductions, it's time to face the Realme K30!
Unboxing the Redmi K30
The Redmi K30 retail box contains the usual - a charger, a USB-C cable, and a transparent case.
The charger is of a premium kind though and is quite the brick - it's the same 27W plug we saw launching as an additional accessory side by side with the Mi 9 last year. Well, it seems Xiaomi will be making it a series regular this year and we are thrilled with its decision.
Special thanks to HonorBuy for providing the review unit.
Design
What can we say about the Redmi K30? It's a glass phone like any other, but if we are to describe it easy - think of a Redmi Note 8 Pro mixed with an essence of Huawei Mate 30 Pro, and the Galaxy S10+'s punch-hole.
Galaxy S10+ (top), Mate 30 Pro (left), Redmi K30 (middle), Redmi Note 8 Pro (right)
The phone has dual Gorilla Glass 5 panels - one flat and one curved. Then there is the aluminum frame, half brushed - half polished, sprayed with whatever color you've chosen to buy.
A large 6.67" IPS LCD screen takes most of the front and leaves quite thin bezels if we are not counting the more obvious chin, that is. The screen edges are curved, as on every other modern smartphone. But the long punch-hole is not that common - we first saw it on the Galaxy S10+ (right?), but it's obviously spreading. And we are not quite sure if this is the best design as the space around this large hole is entirely wasted. It's like having a notch in the corner, but somehow - uglier.
The LCD nature of the screen is making the punch hole look even worse as the panel accounts for uneven backlighting, and it shows its worst behavior around the selfie hole. You will notice obvious shadows around this eyesore when displaying brighter content and it's downright annoying.
But here is the real kicker - the two cameras have separate punch holes, and there are actual pixels in-between which are set to show black. But Xiaomi chose not to use them, as opposed to some earlier leaks of the Redmi K30 and instead, made the whole thing look like a singular cutout. Our only guess is that it looked bad with the LCD's uneven backlighting, so Xiaomi eventually settled for this solution.
Having said all those things, the 6.67" large screen still looks quite good, it even supports HDR10 and has more than enough pixels to look sharp. But the real treat is its 120Hz refresh rate, which will make you forget any shortcomings whatsoever in a MiB flash fashion. Really. We forgot them already.
Redmi K30 next to the Redmi Note 8 Pro
Not having an AMOLED screen means the fingerprint scanner can't be placed under the display. Xiaomi decided not to put it on the back as it was on the Note 8 Pro, either. Instead, the reader is mounted on the right side of the frame, and it doubles as a power/lock key. It's always on, lightning-fast, and unlocks even before you've managed to click that key. Nice!
Other interesting bits around the Redmi K30 are the audio jack, and the speaker at the bottom, the hybrid SIM/microSD tray on the left side, and the very thin and pretty invisible earpiece etched within the screen enclosure above the large panel at the front.
The rear Gorilla Glass is also of the fifth generation but this time around it is curved towards the longer sides. We have the so-called Deep Sea Blue version, which looks quite mesmerizing with the slow transition from blue to somewhat purple-ish in Aurora-styled fashion.
The camera is the obvious stop on the back and Xiaomi wanted everyone to notice it. And this is where this beautiful circle accent comes to help, and it looks a lot like what we saw on the Huawei Mate 30 Pro.
Anyway, inside the circle, which has this cool ultrawide-angle effect, by the way, sits one big camera hump that houses all the cameras. Starting top to bottom first is the 2MP macro snapper, second is the 8MP ultrawide shooter, followed by the 2MP depth sensor, and the bottom one is the 64MP primary.
There is also a dual-LED flash that's flush with the back just below the camera setup.
The Redmi K30 is a large smartphone, nobody can deny that. And it is slippery for sure with all this glass around. It's still sleek enough for pockets, and if you opt for the supplied silicone case, you will avoid all that slippery insecurity.
Redmi K30 and Redmi K20 (Mi 9T)
The K30 is also quite pretty and matches the build and looks of most flagships, which we'll call a win. Some water resistance would have been much appreciated, but it's not without nothing either - the Redmi K30 has P2i nano-coating, which will help it survive the occassional splash or two.
Display
The Redmi K30 features a larger 6.67 IPS LCD screen with an elliptical hole for the dual-selfie camera. We established those are actually two smaller punch-holes, but the phone does not use the space between them for whatever reasons. On top of the whole thing lies a flat Gorilla Glass 5 for protection.
The screen resolution is 1,080 x 2,400 pixels, making for 20:9 aspect ratio and nice pixel density of 395ppi (same as Redmi Note 8 Pro).
The screen supports HDR10, but unfortunately, you will be able to enjoy HDR content only on YouTube. The Redmi K30 supports only the basic L3 security level of Widevine CDM, meaning Netflix, Amazon, and similar digital streaming services will serve you basic 480p content only. Pity!
The Redmi K30 is the first-ever Redmi to support higher than 60Hz refresh rate. It does even better than the OnePlus phones, and the screen is set by default on 120Hz refresh rate!
The first thing you will notice is the MIUI optimization for 120Hz refresh rate - the added smoothness to transitions throughout the phone is an instant love at first sight. Every scroll and swipe will feel buttery smooth, and once you experience this, it is hard to go back to 60Hz.
You can go back to 60Hz, of course, if you need to save some battery or if some compatibility issues arise.
The 120fps support should offer a superior gaming experience for mobile games, previously impossible smoothness while scrolling pages and text, and, probably, the most noticeable - the amazingly smooth MIUI. There is the fact that the Redmi K30 is not packing a flagship-grade processor and graphics, though we still believe there are many games that will be capable of exceeding the previous 60fps cap.
The display maxes out at 550 nits of brightness when adjusted manually, and when set to the Auto setting and faced with bright light, it will go as high as 708 nits. The blacks aren't the deepest we've seen, but still enough for some very good contrast ratios.
The minimum brightness we measured was just 1.2 nits!
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.399 | 450 | 1128:1 | |
| 0.527 | 714 | 1355:1 | |
| 0 | 449 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 646 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 453 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 643 | ∞ | |
| 0.347 | 460 | 1326:1 | |
| 0.486 | 640 | 1317:1 | |
| 0 | 500 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 708 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 432 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 427 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 597 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 385 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 793 | ∞ | |
| 0.371 | 498 | 1342:1 | |
| 0.421 | 585 | 1390:1 | |
| 0.39 | 480 | 1231:1 | |
| 0.413 | 501 | 1213:1 | |
| 0 | 444 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 637 | ∞ | |
| 0.331 | 450 | 1360:1 | |
| 0.453 | 600 | 1325:1 | |
| 0 | 424 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 551 | ∞ | |
The screen is tuned to comply with the sRGB color space. The Automatic calibration has a more pleasant and saturated appearance while Natural is tuned closer to accurate colors.
And the color accuracy is quite good. The Automatic profile is not too saturated; Color is just punchy enough but not overwhelming, and we measured an average deltaE of 6.8. The Standard profile has superb accuracy though - we got an average deltaE of 1.0.
Battery life
The Redmi K3 is powered by a large 4,500 mAh battery - the same as Redmi Note 8 Pro's cell, but it has 500mAh capacity more than the K20's battery.
The Redmi K30 supports 27W fast charging and comes with the appropriate 27W brick. It replenishes 56% in 30 mins of K30's depleted battery, while a full charge takes 69 minutes.
Of course, we completed the Redmi K30 battery test, and it did splendidly. The K30 can last nearly two days on a call and does very good when it comes to standby endurance.
When the screen uses a 60Hz refresh rate, you can watch videos or browse the web for more than 16 hours. If you are going to use it on 120Hz, you will lose 2 hours of web time or 4 hours of video playback. And that's a deal most of the users will make in a heartbeat as the overall smoothness will win before a couple of extra hours of runtime.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Redmi K30 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Audio quality
Turning to the output via with 3.5mm audio jack, the Redmi K30 went off to a solid start. When connected to an external amplifier, its scores were perfect, and its loudness was nicely above average.
Our standard 32oHm headphones did cause a fair bit of damage though - volume dropped to below average, a significant amount of stereo crosstalk appeared and some intermodulation distortion, too. A mediocre performance by the mid-ranger on this occasion.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0023 | 0.0068/td> | -93.0 | |
| +0.33, -0.26 | -93.2 | 93.3 | 0.021 | 0.411/td> | -46.0 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.5 | 93.9 | 0.0025 | 0.0068 | -93.8 | |
| +0.60, -0.04 | -92.9 | 93.2 | 0.020 | 0.454 | -49.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -94.0 | 94.0 | 0.0019 | 0.0067 | -93.3 | |
| +0.35, -0.26 | -91.3 | 90.9 | 0.015 | 0.445 | -45.4 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.2 | 93.2 | 0.0017 | 0.051 | -94.2 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -93.1 | 93.0 | 0.0035 | 0.037 | -83.8 | |
| +0.03, -0.06 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0020 | 0.0080 | -88.1 | |
| +0.30, -0.37 | -87.2 | 91.0 | 0.0081 | 0.356 | -48.4 |
Redmi K30 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
MIUI 11 and Android 10
Xiaomi Redmi K30 is the first smartphone to boot Android 10 with MIUI 11 out of the box. The new MIUI launcher introduced a cleaner interface, an improved always-on screen, expanded Dark mode, smart notification sounds based on Mother Nature, and a better document editor.
Unlike the Redmi K20, which had the Poco launcher pre-installed, the Redmi K30 features no such thing. We guess the split between Xiaomi and Poco has something to do with that.
For starters let's mention that the Redmi K30 lacks support for Always-on display, probably because it has switched from OLED to LCD panel since the K20.
You can unlock the screen via the blazing-fast and always-on fingerprint scanner that's mounted on just below the power key on the right side of the K30. You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it's equally fast as the K30 wakes up the moment you pick it up. Note that the face unlock option may not be available in all regions and is far less secure than fingerprint unlock.
The Redmi K30 may lack an OLED screen, but it still supports the new Dark mode - it will switch all system colors from white to black, and this way, you can save some battery juice. With MIUI 11 it has been improved, and now more apps support Dark mode, and the icons and their colors have been redesigned to suit it better.
Dark mode
MIUI 11 supports nature alarm and notifications, which sound different depending on the time of the day. Nature sounds have been tailored for alarms and notifications and are far less stressful through the day.
Nature-inspired notifications
There is no app drawer in MIUI, so all your apps are just sitting there on your homescreen, but you can still add them to folders. Of course, you can always install a third-party launcher if you miss the app drawer.
Here are the default home screens on Redmi K30. There's a weather widget in the upper right corner across from a large clock widget. There is an App Vault pane, the leftmost one. It contains different cards with relevant information - recent apps, step counter, notes, calendar events, the weather, and favorites, among others. You can configure what shows up here, or you can disable this altogether.
MIUI 11 has refined looks with less clutter, and you easily spot the Xiaomi efforts towards minimalistic design in the new Settings app.
Lockscreen • Homescreen • Homescreen • Tools • App Vault • Settings
The task switcher has not changed. It shows all of your recent apps in two columns. Tap and hold on a card for the split-screen shortcut, or just swipe it left or right to close it.
Notifications • Toggles • Recents • Split Screen
Themes are supported on the Xiaomi Redmi K30, but the app appears only when the phone is set to a supported region, say India.
Themes
MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.
MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. In some regions, the music and video apps include paid streaming options. FM radio app is available, too.
MIUI 11 also introduced a new document viewing app, which supports all popular formats and makes it easier to view docs on your phone no matter what app they came out from. It makes for a seamless experience.
There is also a new Notes app that now supports Tasks.
MIUI 11 brings an improved Health app, too.
Security app • Security app • Gallery • Music • File Manager • FM radio
In some markets, the pre-installed applications by Xiaomi will show ads, which is how Xiaomi is compensating for the relatively low prices of its devices. We're reviewing a version of the Redmi K30 with a so-called Global ROM, and we still saw ads within some of the system apps and processes, as well as various unwanted notifications from Chinese ad services lurking underneath MIUI. Still, they are not a major nuisance, and we've heard other regional MIUI revisions have it worse.
Performance and benchmarks
The Xiaomi Redmi K30 employs the Snapdragon 730G chip - one of the most powerful upper-midrange platforms from Qualcomm. Hardware-wise, the Snapdragon 730G is pretty much identical to its vanilla sibling we saw on the Redmi K20.
The CPUs of both 730 and 730G are identical - octa-core processors with two Kryo 470 Gold (Cortex-A76) cores clocked at 2.2 GHz, and six Kryo 470 Silver (Cortex-A55) ones, working at 1.8 GHz. They are all built on an 8nm LPP node and hence pretty power-efficient.
Both chips also have the same Adreno 618 DSP. But the one on the 730G is clocked 75 MHz higher and sits at 575 MHz. This is the only difference between the two chips and so is the only thing different between the hardware of Redmi K20 and Redmi K30.
Finally, depending on the storage option you choose, the Redmi K30 will be with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM.
The Snapdragon 730G may have just two high-performance A76-derived cores, but those were enough to put a great fight. The single-core scores are great, too.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
7008 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
6999 - Realme X2
6926 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
6863 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
6017 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
5620 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
5566 - Nokia 7.2
5440 - Honor 9X
5345
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
2558 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
2537 - Realme X2
2508 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
2472 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
1905 - Honor 9X
1559 - Nokia 7.2
1534 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
1519 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
1489
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Realme X2
1750 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
1703 - Xiaomi Redmi K30
1692 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
1622 - Nokia 7.2
1398 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
1288
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
548 - Realme X2
545 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
542 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
493 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
349 - Nokia 7.2
332
The Adreno 618 GPU sounds beyond promising on paper and should be more than adequate to handle all 1080p content. The GPU inside the K30's S730G SoC is clocked higher than the one inside the regular S730 (K20/Mi 9T), and you can spot the difference in the scores.
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
27 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
24 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
24 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
24 - Realme X2
24 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
14 - Nokia 7.2
13 - Honor 9X
12 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
11
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
15 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
14 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
14 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
13 - Realme X2
13 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
8.7 - Nokia 7.2
8.1 - Honor 9X
6.5 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
5.9
3DMark SSE OpenGL ES 3.1 1440p
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi K30
2467 - Realme X2
2402 - Redmi Note 8 Pro
2363 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
2182 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
2082 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
1425 - Nokia 7.2
1333
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 8 Pro
2447 - Realme X2
2263 - Xiaomi Redmi K30
2244 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
2035 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
1989 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
1502 - Nokia 7.2
1277
If we are to trust AnTuTu, the Redmi K30 is ahead of every other midranger and on par with the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 8 Pro
224759 - Xiaomi Redmi K30
218200 - Realme X2
215578 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
211915 - Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
180057 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
152075 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
141077 - Honor 9X
140362 - Nokia 7.2
139495
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Redmi Note 8 Pro
279355 - Xiaomi Redmi K30
272229 - Realme X2
257443 - Xiaomi Mi 9T
257146 - Honor 9X
187528 - Samsung Galaxy M30s
180321 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 8T
167395 - Nokia 7.2
164484
It's quite apparent that the Redmi K30 performance is on par with the Redmi K20 most of the times, and only the GPU tests can reveal a small graphics advantage. The higher clock speed of the Adreno 618 does make a small difference in theoretical performance, but we doubt anyone would notice it in real life.
Then again, the Snapdragon 730G is one very potent chip, and we are there are games that would be able to exceed 60fps and make use of the 120Hz display. But those are probably a handful at best and our testing confirmed our doubts. Even games like Alto's Odyssey can't go north of 60fps. We tried a dozen of 120FPS-enabled games and the only one that was able to go beyond 60fps was Dead Trigger 2 - it hovered around 85fps.
Still, for a mid-ranger,
Same camera as Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi K20 users sigh
It's quite safe to say the Redmi K30 has lifted its main camera from the Redmi Note 8 Pro. And that's fine, but it doesn't feel as an upgrade over the Redmi K20's setup as the telephoto camera has been replaced with a macro snapper.
Indeed, the Redmi K30 features the same quad-camera we saw on the Note 8 Pro. This means the K30 packs a 64MP primary with f/1.9 aperture, 0.8µm pixels, and PDAF. Then there is an 8MP snapper with 13mm f/2.2 lens and 1.12µm pixels. The macro camera is 2MP with f/2.4 aperture, 1.75µm pixels, and autofocus. Finally, there is a 2MP depth sensor.
Well, we said it's the same, but there is one difference though. While Xiaomi used Samsung's ISOCELL GW1 64MP sensor for the Note 8 Pro, it has switched to Sony's IMX686 64MP for the Redmi K30.
There is a dual-LED flash outside the camera hump, though since the Night Mode push these are used mostly as torches.
Redmi K30 and Redmi Note 8 Pro
The default camera app is a typical MIUI affair - switching between modes is done by swiping left and right, and all available modes but Macro are on this rolodex. The zoom shortcut on the viewfinder switches between ultrawide, regular 1x, and 2x zoom (digital). Oddly, the Macro switch has been placed on top of the viewfinder around the Flash trigger.
The Pro mode works with the normal camera, the ultra-wide, and the macro. Manual 64MP pictures are also an option. For the main camera, you can use up to 32s shutter speed and ISO up to 3200. For the ultrawide, the shutter speed goes up to 16s, while for the macro - it's 1/4s.
Redmi K30 camera app
Image quality
The 64MP main camera saves 16MP photos,, and the daylight bunch came out excellent for the class. The resolved detail is plenty, the contrast is great, and the dynamic range rather high. The colors, while pleasant, are a bit off and warmer than they should have been, though.
The images are sharp, but some might consider them as over-sharpened. The algorithm does not go to extremes, though, so we'd consider the sharpness just fine. There are traces of noise in areas of uniform colors, but we'd prefer this instead of ineptly smeared fine detail.
Redmi K30 16MP photos
You can opt for 2x zoom from the viewfinder, but it's just a crop from the 16MP photo and then upscaled back to 16MP.
Redmi K30 16MP 2x zoomed photos
You can shoot in the full 64MP resolution and the photos look quite good. The level of detail is downright impressive, and the sharpning is far less intense here. It takes a second or two to shoot such a large photo,, and the file size is humongous -we are talking north of 40-50MB for a single photo!
There is a case to be made for shooting in 64MP, though. Since the zoom camera has been retired, there is still a way to get a 2x photo of nicer quality. You can snap a photo in 64MP, then crop 16MP from the center and voila - you'd have a 2x zoomed 16MP image of much better quality than what you get by using the 2x switch.
Of course, you can do the same with the regular 16MP photo in the default mode - crop 8MP from the center and present it as an 8MP telephoto image. After all the Redmi K20's tele camera used to be only 8MP anyway, so you are not missing much, right?
But at the end of the day, it's a hassle that will be just too much for the majority of people, and a gimmick that won't go unnoticed from pixel peepers. Still, if you want to experiment, the 64MP mode is the way to go.
Redmi K30 64MP photos
The 8MP ultrawide cam snaps good photos with enough level of detail and commendable contrast. The dynamic range is rather limited, though, and HDR mode won't help much with that. Sure, the per-pixel quality is no match to the main snapper, and the images are noticeably noisier, but those are still some very good ultrawide shots for the class.
Redmi K30 8MP ultrawide photos
You can opt-out of the automatic lens correction, and you will get more distorted edges of the frame but with sharper output.
With lens correction • Without lens correction
The Redmi K30's 2MP macro cam has autofocus, unlike the majority of the macro shooters out there, be it flagship or not. This way,, it is much easier to use as you don't need to be exactly at 2cm or 4cm away from your subject. And the closeups we took with the Redmi K30 are pretty impressive.
Redmi K30 2MP macro shots
The fourth camera on the back is a 2MP depth sensor used only when shooting portraits. And the K30 indeed seems to be a potent shooter even if its processing might cut an ear or a cheek in the process. The portrait photos are very detailed, with convincing blur and with some fine-tuning they can easily rival some of the best we've seen from recent smartphones.
Redmi K30 16MP portraits
Now let's look at some nighttime pictures. The Redmi K30 saves very pleasant images when night falls, excellent if you will - the noise reduction is not that aggressive, and while it leaves some noise visible on the photos, it also keeps the fine detail intact, and the sharpness is perfect. The shots are contrasty, and even without HDR or Night Mode, they present some great colors.
Redmi K30 16MP low-light photos
The Night Mode on the K30 is just as conservative as on previous Xiaomi cameras. It acts more like HDR rather than full-on Night mode, and shooting takes about 2 seconds. It cancels some of the noise and restores most clipped highlights, but you will rarely get a brighter image, but softer - you will.
Redmi K30 Night Mode 16MP images
The low-light photos from the ultrawide-angle camera are not terrible - they came out detailed than expected, probably due to the gentle noise reduction. The exposure turned out not as dark as on other ultrawide snappers, and while still uninspiring, there are some usable pictures among them.
Redmi K30 8MP ultrawide low-light photos
Here's how the main camera on the Redmi K30 stacks against the rest of the competition in a more controlled environment.
Redmi K30 against the Redmi Note 8 Pro and the Realme X2 in our Photo compare tool
Redmi K30 vs. Redmi Note 8 Pro
Both the Redmi K30 and Note 8 Pro have the same camera setups, at least on paper. The only real difference is in the maker of the primary sensor - the K30 uses a Sony ExmorRS one, while the Note 8 Pro relies on a Samsung-made ISOCELL. And it is only natural we pit those phones against each other and see what happens.
First, let's look at some daylight photos. The new Redmi K30 offers a sharper images with more resolved detail in the corners. It also produces much better photos even if they are still warmer than they should be.
Redmi K30 16MP photos
Redmi Note 8 Pro 16MP photos
We were disappointed by the Redmi Note 8 Pro's ultrawide camera, and we were thrilled to find the Redmi K30 has an excellent one. Its 8MP ultrawide shots are superior in everything - sharper and with a lot more detail, better colors, higher contrast.
Redmi K30 8MP ultrawide photos
Redmi Note 8 Pro 8MP ultrawide photos
So, when it comes to daylight photography, the Redmi K30 is the better shooter, and it's quite obvious.
Shooting in low-light is a bit different story. The Redmi Note 8 Pro photos were shot with a much higher ISO and probably because of that they have more details in darker areas and backgrounds but are also far noisier.
On the other hand, the Redmi K30 images were shot at lower ISO setting, which led to less noise and preserved highlights. The loss in detail is minor and we prefer the K30 stills overs the Note 8's in this occasion.
K30 • Note 8 Pro • K30 • Note 8 Pro
The Night Mode is conservative on both phones, but due to the higher ISO - the Redmi Note 8 Pro has a minor advantage in detail, but that's quickly ruined by the abundant noise.
K30 • Note 8 Pro • K30 • Note 8 Pro
Both phones shoot mediocre low-light ultrawide photos, but those from the Redmi K30 have better exposure and white balance, plus they are less noisy. The ones from the Note 8 Pro show more detail here and there, but the dynamic range is much lower, and the ISO is often through the roof and so is the noise.
K30 • Note 8 Pro • K30 • Note 8 Pro
Selfie camera
The Redmi K30 has the same selfie camera as seen on the K20, it's just not on a pop-up module. The 20MP f/2.2 shooter this time around is accompanied by a 2MP depth sensor for better selfie portraits, so it's an upgrade of sorts.
The 20MP selfies are very good - there is enough detail, the colors are nice, and the contrast is excellent. Sure, you have a limited range for the focus sweet spot, but with enough leeway to cover the different arm lengths and those who prefer closeup shots.
Redmi K30 20MP selfies
Thanks to the newly added depth sensor, the portrait selfies are more sophisticated than what we observed from previous Xiaomi phones, including the K20. Sure, the subject separation is not incredibly proficient but it has been improved enough to (arguably) justify the existence of the second screen hole.
Redmi K30 20MP portrait selfies
Video recording
The Xiaomi Redmi K30 captures videos up to 4K@30fps, 1080@60fps and 1080@30fps is available as well.
It seems at first that you can capture in these resolutions with all cameras, but you can't really. The ultrawide-angle snapper records only 1080p clips at 30fps, while the macro cam is limited to 720p@30fps no matter what resolution you've picked up from the selector.
Slow-mo video is available in 1080p @120fps.
Let's talk about the main camera. The video bitrate is 40-42Mbps in 4K and about 20Mbps in 1080p at both 30fps and 60fps. Audio on in stereo with a 96Kbps bitrate.
Testing all common video modes - 4K at 30fps, and 1080p videos at 30fps and 60fps, revealed similar results across the board. The resolved detail is excellent in all occasions, contrast and dynamic range are pretty good, too.
You can shoot 2x zoomed videos with the main snapper and while the 4K ones are digitally zoomed (you can tell from a mile), those shot in 1080p resolution are as good as the regular ones.
The 1080p clips from the ultrawide shooter are a bit nosier, but other than that - as good as the rest of the group.
Finally, electronic stabilization can be enabled on all 30fps modes, including in 4K resolution. And it works pretty well.
Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how it competes against other phones.
2160p: Redmi K30 against the Redmi Note 8 Pro and Realme X2 in our Video compare tool
Wrap-up
Well, who better than Xiaomi or Realme to offer the high refresh rate screen to the masses, don't you agree? While others like Apple and Samsung are thinking of adding it to their most expensive offers, Xiaomi and Realme are already selling mid-rangers on the cheap with such screens. And the Redmi K30 is the first 120Hz bearer for Xiaomi, the harbinger of change if you will, as we suspect this sort of screen will become a standard for the upcoming Mi and Redmi phones.
But the 120Hz display isn't the only treat you get with the Redmi K30. The phone is the first to run on Android 10 with MIUI 11 out of the box; it also comes with one large battery with a 27W charger bundled in the box, and also improves the quad-camera we saw premiere on the Redmi Note 8 Pro.
It's not all peaches and roses. The Redmi K20 users may have some hard time accepting a notched screen, an LCD at that. And the zoom camera is be gone for good, too, while the macro camera is not enough to compensate.
But the buttery smooth MIUI and the overall experience, along with the larger screen and battery should help balance the scales.
The competition
The Realme K30 is only available officially in China for now, though various gray imports have spread it worldwide with the so-called Global ROMs pre-installed. We suspect Xiaomi is holding off the global K30 release until the Mi 10 reveal, so it could then push it as Mi 10T or similar.
Still, the Redmi K30 has no real competitor, but its 5G model running on the Snapdragon 765 chip will be facing a fierce fight from the Realme X50 - same chip and screen. The Realme does have a dedicated telephoto snapper, and it still offers a 2MP macro shooter! And it's also topping the K30's selfie setup with an actual 8MP ultrawide camera as a secondary to the 16MP primary selfie shooter.
So, if you are after 5G models, the Redmi K30 5G and Realme X50 5G will be something you'd like to check out. If not, until Realme release a regular X50, then the Redmi K30 will surely make more sense.
Or, if you don't care about the 120Hz screen, you can always revert to previous offers such as the Redmi Note 8 Pro. It's pretty much the same phone, but with a smaller notch and regular 60Hz screen.
Or, the Redmi K20/Mi 9T can offer you a 6.39" Super AMOLED screen without any cutouts, the same chipset, and a similar camera but instead of macro, you'd be getting a telephoto shooter.
Xiaomi Redmi K30 5G • Realme X50 5G • Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro • Xiaomi Redmi K20
The verdict
The Redmi K30 is one of those phones we love to meet, review, and even own - a combination of flagship-worthy features, excellent execution across the board, and absurdly low price.
Having Realme breathing down Xiaomi's neck has turned out for the better - while they fight - we all win. And the Redmi K30 is an obvious winner even if it's limited to China for now. With that screen, performance, camera, battery, and $300 or so price - it's impossible to lose. Until non-5G Realme X50 arrives, that is. Then it could be a tie. But that's a topic for this one future article.
Pros
- Large LCD screen with high brightness, HDR 10
- 120Hz mode is a feast for the eyes, where achievable
- Excellent build and design, despite the notch
- Superb battery life, speedy charging
- Well-equipped for gaming and whatnot
- The photos from all cameras, day and night, are great
- Excels in video quality, too
- Android 10, MIUI 11
- Has microSD slot (hybrid), 3.5mm jack, FM radio, IR blaster
Cons
- Not certified for HD content from streaming services like Netflix
- No zoom camera (though you can "zoom" photos by other means)
- Ads in MIUI
- Officially available only in China, more markets coming soon
Special thanks to HonorBuy for providing the review unit.
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