Xiaomi Redmi 10 review

Quad-camera setup with a 50MP sensor leading the pack

Undoubtedly, the main camera is one of the biggest upgrades this year's Redmi 10 has to offer over its predecessors. Samsung's brand new ISOCEL JN1 50MP sensor is spearheading the department with some impressive specs for its class. The sensor measures 1/2.76" in size with 0.64µm pixels and is built on the ISOCELL 2.0 technology. Taking the tetrapixel binning in mind (stitching 4 adjacent pixels into 1), the effective pixel size becomes 1.28µm while the native binned resolution is 12.5MP. Double Super PD autofocus is also on the list of features as well as real-time HDR. In this particular case, the sensor is paired with an f/1.8 lens.

The main camera is complemented by the commonly used 8MP ultrawide shooter offering an f/2.2 aperture and 120-degree field of view, which is a small step up from last year's 118-degree field of view.

On the other hand, the dedicated macro unit has been downgraded to 2MP, down from the 5MP one on the Redmi 9. We wouldn't stress too much about it since macro cameras are generally of low-quality anyway.

A second 2MP camera is also on board and is used for depth sensing.

The selfie experience should theoretically be the same as before, given that the 8MP f/2.0, 1/4.0" camera makes a return.

Camera menus

The default Camera app isn't any different from before, with the standard modes arranged in a carousel formation. There's also a "More" button that opens up a separate sub-menu for the rest of the modes that couldn't fit in the carousel. The general settings menu icon is located in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder. 

Strangely enough, the macro camera doesn't get a dedicated Macro mode or a quick toggle in the default Photo mode, you'd have to tap on the additional settings on top of the viewfinder to access the macro camera.

Default camera app

The Pro mode hasn't been left out and gives you the freedom to tinker with white balance, focus, ISO, shutter speed and exposure.

General camera settings

Daylight samples

Main camera

Even with the new 50MP camera, daylight photos by the Redmi 10 are quite underwhelming. It's usually what you'd expect to get from a budget camera but we had set our hopes higher.

Just like all phones in this price bracket, the photos have a color cast that makes colors appear quite far from reality. They are also poor in contrast and dynamic range.

Still, you get a much better definition of the fine detail than any other phone in the price range so that's something.

Daylight main camera samples

Taking photos indoors results in considerably darker images with reduced sharpness and increased noise.

Daylight main camera samples

We also tried out the 50MP mode, but we couldn't see any benefits from it. In fact, the increased detail comes at the cost of more noise and somewhat reduced sharpness too. The HDR doesn't work in that mode, too.

50MP main camera samples

Ultrawide camera

Surely, we didn't expect much from the ultrawide camera after the main camera's poor performance. Ultrawide photo quality is usually an Achilles' heel for significantly more expensive handsets, but the Redmi 10 did surprise us in several aspects.

Right off the bat, we can see a noticeable difference in the color reproduction, with the ultrawide shots looking a bit more lively, saturated and brighter overall too. Sharpness and detail aren't its strongest suits, but closer subjects would look just fine. There's no extreme edge softness, and the lens distortion algorithm is doing a pretty good job.

Daylight ultrawide camera samples

Objectively speaking, the Redmi 10's ultrawide camera punches above its class thanks to its vibrant colors, good contrast and overall clear image. Handsets running the same camera produce pictures of considerably lower quality.

2x zoom

Even though Xiaomi has put a dedicated 2x zoom toggle in the standard Photo mode, the zoomed samples lack detail and the issues with colors and the color cast are even more apparent.

Main camera 2x crop zoom samples

Macro camera

As it's usually the case with macro cameras, the main drawback is that the 2MP shooter here is that it lacks autofocus and optical stabilization. Since the latter is too much to ask for, the AF would have been appreciated as it makes the shooting experience that much better. 

Macro camera samples

In any case, the quality of the macro samples is just about average. Colors aren't punchy per se, sharpness is nice, but the amount of detail is limited due to the low-resolution sensor. Make sure that all of your photos have sufficient lighting because the tiny 2MP sensor struggles even in decent conditions.

Low-light samples

Main camera

Expectations should match the phone's price tag when it comes to low-light photos, but we do see a significant improvement over the last generation, and perhaps it's due to the new 50MP main sensor.

Some of the low-light samples look decent and are suitable for social media. And that's not something you should take for granted in a phone with this price tag.

Images are still soft, highlights are often clipped, and contrast could be a tad better. However, details in the shadows are still visible, and colors are generally saturated enough, so the pictures don't look half bad. 

Low-light main camera samples

Even better, the Redmi 10 didn't skip on the Night mode like the Redmi 9 did, which obviously makes the whole nighttime photography thing a lot more enjoyable. We are actually quite impressed with the results.

Capturing photos in this mode doesn't take that long and you stand to gain a significant improvement in sharpness, fine detail, dynamic range and overall picture quality. Just take a look at the shadows and highlights - they are now much more balanced with the Night mode, light sources are contained, and contrast is looking a lot better.

Night mode main camera samples

This year's Night mode is definitely a game-changer and helps the Redmi 10 challenge considerably more expensive handsets when it comes to nighttime shooting.

2x zoom

The Night mode works with the 2x zoom, but don't expect remotely usable images. They are soft, blurry and noisy all-around, and the Night mode doesn't seem to help much either.

Low-light 2x zoom samples: Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode • Normal • Night mode

Ultrawide camera

There's no Night mode for the ultrawide snapper, but the samples turned out a tad better than expected. We were anticipating awful ultrawide shots, but some of them can actually be decent enough for social media.

The contrast is really good, colors are punchy, and detail is okay even in the shadows. We noticed that it tends to go for a darker exposure, but that has probably helped with the noise, which is hard to spot in the dark areas of the image. Sharpness also needs some improvement, and perhaps some artificial sharpening would go a long way.

Our overall assessment of the low-light ultrawide snaps is pretty much the same as daylight - above average for its class and even better than some mid-range handsets using the same 8MP sensor.

Low-light ultrawide camera samples

Here's how the primary camera on the Redmi 10 stacks against the rest of the competition in the controlled environment of our Photo Compare Tool.

Xiaomi Redmi 10 vs. Poco M3 and the Moto G30  in our Photo compare tool

Portraits

Portraits are a bit of a mixed bag as the edge detection algorithm is rough around the edges, and images are generally soft unless you are outside on a bright sunny day. Even the slightest drop in ambient light results in soft-looking portraits with washed-away detail. Colors are punchy, though, and the skin tones look rather natural.

Portrait samples

Selfies

The selfies are an improvement over the Redmi 9's as well, or in other words - they are pretty good. There is some artificial sharpening going in those samples that may bring out some skin imperfections a bit more than usual, but that's what beautification modes are for, right? Anyway, there's a significant amount of fine detail in most of those shots; the subject's skin is looking natural, colors are vibrant, and the dynamic range is sufficiently wide.

Selfie samples

And by sufficiently wide, we mean that the subject's face is always prioritized even in more challenging conditions. We did notice, however, a slight improvement in sharpness in Portrait mode because HDR is disabled when taking portraits. Take the second and last scenes as an example. This is a rather common sighting where the HDR may soften up some photos.

Portrait selfie samples

Video recording

The phone video recording is capped at 1080p@30fps. It also offers 2x zoom recording and with the ultrawide camera at the same 1080p resolution.

Sadly, even for a Full HD video, the samples below looks uninspiring. They are not very detailed but they also appear oversharpened.

Strangely enough, the ultrawide camera offers a tad better-looking video. Contrast is improved, colors are much more vivid without going over the top and is just about as sharp as the main camera's recording. Two other issues, though - the ultrawide camera tends to go for darker exposure and adds some visible noise into the frame.

As expected, the zoom video is a tad softer, but not as much as we expected, but the processing is the same as the default mode.

There's no EIS, even at 1080p, and we kind of expected it to offer some sort of stabilization.

Once you are done with the real-life scenarios, take a look at our video compare tool to see how the Redmi 10 competes against the other phones we've reviewed.

1080p: Xiaomi Redmi 10 vs. Poco M3 and the Moto G30 in our Video compare tool