Xiaomi Redmi K20 Pro hands-on review

Charging

The other major area of difference between the K20 and the K20 Pro is the charging. While both devices support Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0, the K20 Pro supports up to 27W of charging whereas the K20 is limited to 18W. Both phones come with only 18W charger in the box but Xiaomi sells an optional 27W charger for those with a K20 Pro or other 27W compatible devices.

Xiaomi was kind enough to provide the charger for us to test with our K20 Pro review unit. We did some quick charging tests to see how it compares against the supplied charger. The 18W charger managed to charge the phone around 44% in the first 30 minutes from flat and took around 1 hour and 40 minutes for a full charge, which is about the same speed we saw from the Redmi K20.

When we used the 27W charger, it charged the K20 Pro around 52% in the first 30 minutes and finished charging in around 80 minutes.

It's worth mentioning that the 27W charger is nearly twice the volume in size compared to the 18W charger. Also, it will wear out the battery faster over the years compared to the 18W charger, especially if you frequently do complete charge-discharge cycles and tend to charge overnight. There is no switch in the MIUI settings to reduce charging speed if you're not going to need to finish charging in a hurry, like for those doing overnight charges.

It's for these reasons, we think you may as well stick to the supplied 18W charger if you only charge your phone overnight and only consider investing in the optional 27W charger if you frequently find yourself in situations where you need to top up quickly.

In terms of actual everyday battery life, the K20 Pro did really well and managed to last an entire day on a single charge. Of course, the standard K20 will do better here as it has the same battery capacity but a more frugal chipset.

Conclusion

Performance and charging speed aside, there are only extremely minor differences that set the K20 and K20 Pro apart. If you like the K20, then you'll definitely love the K20 Pro.

We personally prefer the K20 Pro between the two, as it truly offers that budget flagship experience that Xiaomi has come to be known for since the release of the Pocofone F1. It's a phone that offers nearly 80% of the experience of a true flagship smartphone but at a third of the price. Xiaomi has also done all of us a favor and decided to not show any ads in MIUI on the K20 devices.

Overall, we think the K20 Pro offers tremendous value for money - especially on markets where the Mi9 is not available - and unless you are looking for specific features, better camera performance or different software, we think most people don't need to look any further than this for a great all-round smartphone experience.