Weekly poll: Redmi Note 8 and Note 8 Pro up their game, but is it enough?

For years now Xiaomi’s Redmi Note series has been a leader in the value-for-money race, but in recent times they’ve faced some tough competition. To fight back, the company is introducing a proper Pro model and upping the camera count.

The Redmi Note 8 Pro costs 40% more than the vanilla model and here’s what it has to offer. It brings a larger screen, 6.53” vs. 6.3”, and a larger battery, 4,500mAh vs. 4,000mAh. Both have 1080p+ screens and 18W fast charging.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro

The MediaTek Helio G90T chipset is a big deal. It only has two “big” cores, but they are Cortex-A76, which offer higher single-threaded performance over the vanilla model. And the Mali-G76 MC4 promises solid framerates for gaming.

There’s also the matter of the quad camera. The phone will be among the first to feature a 64MP sensor – maybe even the first, depending on how the launch schedule works out. It features a Quad Bayer sensor and pixel binning, resulting in 16MP photos.

Anyway, Redmi Note 8 Pro shares the other three cameras with its sibling. Those are an 8MP ultra wide-angle cam, 2MP dedicated macro cam and 2MP depth sensor.

Note that while there's a Redmi Note 7 Pro, that's more of a regional thing - India got a model with a 12MP main camera and a "Pro" with the same 48MP camera as the international model. The only real change was the Snapdragon 675 chipset.

The Redmi Note 8 keeps the 6.3” 1080p+ screen of its predecessor. Same 4,000mAh battery too and the Snapdragon 665 chipset isn’t noticeably faster than the S660 it replaces (it is more battery efficient, though).

The 48MP sensor of the main camera is a newer model – GM2, instead of GM1 – compared to the Redmi Note 7. It does gain the ultra wide and macro cameras, though. Compared to the Pro model, you lose some resolution for stills, but video recording is identical.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8

Before we forget, the selfie cameras on both phones live in a teardrop notch on the screen. The Pro gets a 20MP sensor, the vanilla has a 13MP one.

Both phones launch with 4/64GB memory as standard. Note that the Pro uses faster the UFS type of storage. Both models have a microSD slot, so you can easily expand the storage after the fact. Also, a USB-C port and 3.5mm headphone jack is present on both models.