Redmi Note 8 Pro vs. Realme X2: Showdown

Introduction

Realme is a challenger brand - a sister company of Oppo and Vivo - and its main strategy is to undercut Xiaomi and its successful Redmi lineup both by price and feature set - something no one thought was possible. But Realme is rather successful in this endeavor, and throughout 2019, this resulted in some fierce competition between the two companies, trading blow after blow with each new product. Two of their most popular phones are the X2 and Redmi Note 8 Pro, and with some time to spare around this year's holidays, we couldn't help but put these two in a direct battle on the (GSM)arena.

The Realme X2 and Redmi Note 8 Pro have a lot in common - similarly sized screens with matching resolution, stunning designs, gaming-friendly performance, and identical camera setups.

Redmi vs. Realme

The Realme brags with a Super AMOLED panel and a high-tech under-display fingerprint reader, while the Redmi shines with a larger battery and the latest MIUI version 11 that's somewhat of a fan-favorite already.

Before we continue, let's take a quick look at their specs sheets. Or, if you prefer, you can check out the comparison of the specs of the two phones in our specs comparison tool.

Realme X2 specs

• Body: Plastic frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, 182g.
• Display: 6.4" Super AMOLED, 1080 x 2340px resolution, 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 403 ppi.
• Rear camera: Primary: 64MP, f/1.8 aperture, 1/1.7" sensor size, 0.8µm pixel size, PDAF. Ultra wide: 8MP, f/2.3, 1/4", 1.12µm pixels; Macro: 2MP, f/2.4, 1/5", 1.75µm; Depth sensor: 2MP; 2160p@30fps, 1080p@30/60/120fps, 720p@480/960fps video recording.
• Front camera: 32MP, f/2.0, 0.8µm pixels.
• OS: Android 9 Pie; ColorOS 6.1.
• Chipset: Snapdragon 730G chipset (8 nm), octa-core CPU (2x2.2 GHz Kryo 470 Gold & 6x1.8 GHz Kryo 470 Silver), Adreno 618 GPU.
• Memory: 6GB/8GB of RAM; 64/128/256GB UFS 2.1 storage; dedicated microSD card slot.
• Battery: 4,000mAh; 30W SuperVOOC Flash Charge 4.0.
• Connectivity: Dual-SIM; Cat.15 LTE; USB 2.0 Type-C; Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac; GPS + GLONASS, GALILEO, BDS; Bluetooth 5.0; FM radio; NFC.
• Misc: Under-display fingerprint reader; 3.5mm audio jack.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 Pro specs

• Body: Plastic frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and back, 200g.
• Display: 6.53" IPS LCD, HDR support, 1080 x 2340px resolution, 19.5:9 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: 20MP, f/2.0 aperture, 0.9µm pixels. 1080p/30fps video recording.
• OS: Android 9 Pie; MIUI 11.
• Chipset: MediaTek Helio G90T (12nm): Octa-core (2x2.05 GHz Cortex-A76 & 6x2.0 GHz Cortex-A55), Mali-G76 MC4 GPU.
• Memory: 6GB of RAM; 64/128/256GB UFS 2.1 storage; shared microSD slot.
• Battery: 4,500mAh; 18W MediaTek Pump Express and USB Power Delivery support.
• 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: Rear-mounted fingerprint reader; 3.5mm audio jack.

The two phones are based on different hardware platforms - Realme has gone for a Snapdragon chipset, while the Redmi Note 8 Pro utilizes a Mediatek chip. You may think that this immediately puts the Redmi at a disadvantage, but this year Mediatek chipsets are on the rebound, and the Helio G90T is quite competitive.

Another difference in the equipment of the two phones is that the Realme offers a dedicated microSD slot and faster charging, while the Redmi has an IR blaster for remote controlling appliances. And with that, we've covered the most serious differences.

Now, it's time to cut to the chase and let those clash in some tests.