Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Snapdragon) review: Dragon fire

Performance

We come to the key change in the upgraded Redmi Note 3 - its Snapdragon 650 chipset. It houses a hexa-core CPU comprised of quad 1.4GHz Cortex-A53 cores and dual 1.8GHz Cortex-A72 ones. Handling the graphics load is an Adreno 510 GPU.

Depending on the model you choose - either 16GB or 32GB - the amount of RAM changes from 2GB to 3GB, respectively. For the review we are using the 32GB/3GB RAM model.

The first Redmi Note 3 came with the Helio X10 chipset, which only has Cortex-A53 cores, but at higher clock speed. The Snapdragon 650 will have obvious single-core advantage thanks to its two Cortex-A72 cores, which are noticeably faster, but it has two cores fewer overall.

With that out of the way, let's see the result from the actual benchmarks. Starting with GeekBench 3, where in its multi-core component, the Helio X10 Redmi Note 3 has an advantage over the Snapdragon 650 one. After all eight cores are more than six.

Things quickly change in the single-core part of the test where the Cortex-A72 make easy work of the Cortex-A53 ones.

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  5437
• LG G5
  5362
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  5242
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  4759
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  4589
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  4537
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  4140
• Sony Xperia X
  3796
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  3695
• LG G4
  3509
• Oppo F1s
  2967
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  2874
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  1437

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  2328
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  2322
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1543
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  1502
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  1466
• Sony Xperia X
  1367
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  745
• Oppo F1s
  706
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  655
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  471

In AnTuTu 6, the Redmi Note 3 (S650) comes close to Sony Xperia X, which uses the same Snapdragon 650. Interestingly, the Redmi Note 3 proves better than the Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)which has the higher-standing Snapdragon 652 chip. Keep in mind that this is a compound benchmark, so all of the system's resources are at play here.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  140871
• LG G5
  134541
• Sony Xperia X
  77537
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  76186
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  64591
• LG G4
  60858
• vivo X6
  51184
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  49094
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  45474
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  34937
• Oppo F1s
  30657
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  27487

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  2603
• LG G5
  2425
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1914
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  999
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  956
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  930
• Oppo F1s
  888
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  826
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  576

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  2175
• LG G5
  2065
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  1787
• Sony Xperia X
  1714
• LG G4
  1584
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  1529
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1426
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  1063
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  1018
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  1007
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  532
• Oppo F1s
  269
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  262

Time to stress out the GPU starting with BaseMark X. The Adreno 510 offers decent, if unspectacular performance and will be able to run most modern, GPU intensive games.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  32362
• LG G5
  29456
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  26125
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  15290
• LG G4
  15090
• Sony Xperia X
  15087
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14717
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8540
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8518
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  5427
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  5383
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  2180
• Oppo F1s
  419

Basemark X (medium)

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  34112
• LG G5
  29148
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  26081
• LG G4
  24990
• Sony Xperia X
  24687
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  23643
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  15359
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  11199
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  10929
• Oppo F1s
  9740
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  4157

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  47
• LG G5
  47
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  25
• LG G4
  14.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Sony Xperia X
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  13
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  8.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  5.8
• Oppo F1s
  5.1
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  4.9
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  1.8

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• LG G5
  28
• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  27
• Sony Xperia X
  15
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  13
• Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
  11
• Oppo F1s
  10
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  9.5
• LG G4
  9.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  7.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  7.9
• Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
  3.8

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  31
• LG G5
  30
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  15
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  9.3
• Sony Xperia X
  9.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  9
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  7.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  4
• Oppo F1s
  2.4

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Vivo Xplay5 Elite
  15
• LG G5
  15
• Sony Xperia X
  10
• Samsung Galaxy A9 (S652)
  9.1
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  9
• Samsung Galaxy S6 (5.1.1)
  6.8
• Oppo F1s
  6
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
  3.9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  3.9
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.2

Changing the engine of the Redmi Note 3 with a Snapdragon 650 chipset boosted the phone's performance significantly over the previous iteration. The Snapdragon-boasting Redmi Note 3 is not only snappier, but its day-to-day use is a lot smoother, too.

Note: Our review unit was running the 6.8.11 Beta build of MIUI 8. All observations made are based upon this build and some things could change with the stable build on the retail units.