Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime vs. Redmi 3s Prime: Primed up!

Software

This versus article puts two Xiaomi siblings on the arena and those are conveniently running on the same Android and MIUI iterations. The Android OS ticking beneath the latest MIUI 8 is Marshmallow with the Nougat upgrade probably being in development but far from release.

MIUI is a very powerful, yet clean launcher and that's what makes it attractive to a handful of users. The drawer-free homescreen and simplistic narrative of the interface has made the MIUI a fan-favorite throughout the years and that's why it can be found running even on non-Xiaomi smartphones.

MIUI 8

While MIUI looks very clean and simple it is also a really powerful launcher. It allows for rich customizations via themes and you can even change the system icons and fonts. There is also a powerful Security app to handle all advanced options such as permissions, battery saver, data counters and limits, and call blacklists, among others.

Themes • themes • Security app • Data usage • Battery saver

Both Redmi 3s Prime and Redmi 4 Prime are treated with the same functions and services across the similar OS and launcher versions and there isn't a single feature missing in any of them.

The highlights of the MIUI8 features are Dual Apps and dual spaces. Dual Apps means you can have two instances of any app on your device, so you can, for example, have two WhatsApp accounts on the same phone, one for each SIM, something you couldn't do before.

Dual apps

Dual spaces lets you have two different workspaces on your device, each with its own set of apps, customizations, and image gallery, and you can enter a custom passcode or a different fingerprint to enter either of the space.

First space • First space • Second space • Second space • The space switch

MIUI is as powerful as any other launcher on the market and among the better ones we've seen. WE are sure everyone will find a reason to like it.

Winner: Tie. Coming with identical software versions, quite expectedly, both phones provide the same features.

Performance

We expect the Performance section of this comparison article to surely tip the scales. While both Redmis are somewhat in the same league, the Redmi 3s Prime is running on the low-tier Snapdragon 430 chip, while the Redmi 4 Prime is powered by the mid-tier Snapdragon 625 chip. Both devices come with 3GB of RAM.

The Snapdragon 430 SoC packs an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor ticking at 1.4GHz and Adreno 505 GPU. The Snapdragon 625 has a more powerful octa-core A53 CPU at 2.0GHz and a newer Adreno 506 GPU and is also the current reigning midrange champion in power-efficiency since it's built around a 14nm fabrication process.

On the other hand, the Redmi 3s Prime has a 720p display, which means it needs less processing power under the hood to do the same tasks the Redmi 4 Prime has to complete on its 1080p screen.

So, without further ado, here are the results.

Naturally, a single A53 core at 2.0GHz will be faster than one clocked at 1.4GHz, and the same applies for eight of those. So as raw CPU power is concerned, the Redmi 4 Prime is more powerful indeed.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  819
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  641

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3016
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  1944

The Adreno 506 GPU inside the Redmi 4 is also more powerful than its 505 predecessor inside the Redmi 3s and you can clearly see its superiority in the offscreen GFX tests, which sole purpose is to demonstrate raw graphics power.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  9.8
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  7.1

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  6.2
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  4.5

GFX 3.1 Car scene (offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2.3

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  10424
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  7604

The real deal are the onscreen tests, where things go in the opposite direction. The Redmi 3s has a lower display resolution and thus it will require less GPU muscle to do the same job as the Redmi 4. And the graphics benchmarks paint an entirely different picture, where, in fact, the Redmi 3s is doing better in graphics and will surely do better in handling games.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  14
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  9.6

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  6.1

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  4.9
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4

Finally, we ran AnTuTu 6 and BaseMark OS II compound tests. These gauge CPU, GPU, RAM, storage, web, and even OS performance, though the CPU parts seem to have a bigger impact on the score than the rest. Even though the Redmi 3s Prime does better in graphics, the total points are in favor of the Redmi 4 Prime.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  62316
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  43344

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  1296
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  934

Winner: Tie. While Redmi 4 Prime has more raw CPU power under the hood, due to the higher pixel count its gaming capabilities are behind the Redmi 3s Prime's.

Speaker and audio quality

Each of the Redmis offer a single loudspeaker and each of those scored Average across our loudness test board. The sound quality on both devices was above average with deep and crisp sound.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime and Redmi 3S Prime both demonstrated perfectly clean output when hooked up to an active external amplifier. The loudness on the 4 is higher though, and while it's not that important here it still helps it get this round.

Plugging in a pair of headphones does very minimal damage to the output of the two mid-rangers, which is an impressive achievement on its own. Once again the Redmi 4 Prime is the louder of the two and with the clarity closely matched it walks away the overall winner.

Winner: Redmi 4 Prime, though only because its audio output turned out louder. But louder output means it would handle bigger headphones more easily so that's an important aspect.