Xiaomi Mi A3 review

Vanilla Android Pie

Since it's part of the Android One family, the Xiaomi Mi A3 boots a clean Android OS install and, of course, it's rocking the latest Android 9.0 Pie version.

There is the Pie notification shade, quick toggles area, the Pie task switcher and its multi-windows capabilities, and even the list of recent apps in the task switcher that can be expanded to reveal the full app drawer.

The launcher does also include an optional Google feed screen on the far left and lends itself to a certain degree of customization, like editing number or rows and columns and toggling things like notification dots, app suggestions and home screen rotation.

The Mi A3 launcher

There's only one pill-like button in the center - tapping it once takes you to the home screen, a swipe up brings out the recent apps menu, swiping to the left acts as a back button while swiping to the right quickly switches back to the last opened app. The quick switch works pretty well which is not always the case with Android implementations. You can also go with Android's default navigation that includes a back button and the pill-shaped key.

You can unlock the phone via the optical under-display fingerprint scanner. The reader is very quick to set up and works snappily after that. The accuracy is superb, too, and overall, it's great for your daily unlocking.

Security options • Fingerprints • Multi-tasking • Multi-tasking

You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it's equally fast as the Mi A3 wakes up the moment you pick it up, but not as secure. Note that the face unlock option may not be available in all regions.

Music, Movies, Files, Drive - everything is handled by Google's default apps. There is FM radio support and app on the Mi A3. You can also install the Mi Remote app from the Play Store to use the IR blaster on top of the phone.

Photos • Files • FM radio • FM radio • Mi Remote

Performance and benchmarks

Xiaomi Mi A3 is the first smartphone we meet to be powered by the Snapdragon 665 chipset. It's a minor upgrade over the Mi A2's Snapdragon 660 chip but given the lowered resolution we expect wonders in gaming.

So, the new Snapdragon 665 chip is based on the more efficient 11nm manufacturing process compared to the 14nm Snapdragon 660. It has the same processor as the S660 - an octa-core Kryo 260 CPU with 4x2.0 GHz Kryo 260 Gold (Cortex-A73 derivative) & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 260 Silver (Cortex-A53 derivative). Well, almost the same - the high-performance Kryo cores are actually clocked 200MHz lower than the same on the Mi A2's S660.

There is a new Adreno 610 GPU, which isn't more powerful than the Adreno 512 inside the old 660 chip but should deliver similar performance for 20% less battery.

The Snapdragon 665 has a new DSP and a new ISP for 48MP camera support. Its modem is the same as on the S660, though.

Now, let's run some benchmarks, shall we?

The single core performance is nothing to phone home about - it's on par with other A73-based cores, but the score is a bit down from the Galaxy A50 and Redmi Note 7 due to the lower CPU clock.

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  2404
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  1905
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1715
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  1650
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1617
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  1615
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  1576
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  1531
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  1325
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  877
• Sony Xperia 10
  848

The multi-core performance is excellent - the phone did better than all other smartphones with 4 x A73 cores even though it's running on a lower frequency.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  6620
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  6017
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  5686
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  5549
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  5411
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  5396
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  5176
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  4625
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  4292
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  4112
• Sony Xperia 10
  3985

The Mi A3's Snapdragon 665 has Adreno 610 GPU, which should be similar to S660's Adreno 512 but more power efficient. Well, it turned out that its raw performance is actually a bit lower than on the Snapdragon 660's GPU, so performance upgrade is definitely out of the question here.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  37
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  29
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  24
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  22
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  22
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  22
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  21
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  20
• Sony Xperia 10
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  13
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  26
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  20
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  17
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  15
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  14
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  13
• Sony Xperia 10
  9.6
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  8.1
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.4

3DMark SSE 3.1 Unlimited

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  2218
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  1748
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  1409
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  1380
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  1353
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  1220
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  1131
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  988
• Sony Xperia 10
  903
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  647

But the Mi A3 has one huge advantage when it comes to performance - a lower resolution screen. And it pays off in a major way by helping the GPU deliver a flagship-grade GPU performance.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi A3
  34
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  34
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  28
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  21
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  21
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  21
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  19
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  12
• Sony Xperia 10
  11
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  9.7

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi A3
  27
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  24
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  19
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  15
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  14
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  13
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  13
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  13
• Sony Xperia 10
  7.8
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  7.4
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  6.3

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  14
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  13
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  11
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  8.6
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  8
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  7.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  7.7
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  6.9
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  4.6
• Sony Xperia 10
  4.3
• Xiaomi Mi A1
  3.5

Finally, the compound AnTuTu test puts the Mi A3 on par with the Redmi Note 7, P30 Lite, and the Galaxy A50, while it's not that far away from the Pixel 3a XL. We'll take this score as a good thing.

AnTuTu 7

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro
  180754
• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE
  180057
• Google Pixel 3a XL
  159110
• Samsung Galaxy A50
  144574
• Huawei P30 Lite (perf. mode)
  141600
• Xiaomi Mi A3
  140633
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 7
  139075
• Xiaomi Mi A2
  130927
• Samsung Galaxy A40
  106388
• Sony Xperia 10
  89697

The Mi A3 is plenty fast and delivers about the same performance as its price bracket peers. It is a very dependable performer thanks to its Snapdragon 665 chip and that HD screen. It's as great for gaming as it is for daily operations and browsing the social media.

We didn't notice any hot spots around the Mi A3 even when running those benchmarks for longer duration and there was no throttling at all. Overall, the A3 offers great performance for the class and nobody should be experiencing major hiccups whatever the tasks at hand. And it also turned out to be a great gaming device on the budget, which may win some new fans to the series.