Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625) review: Take Note!

Performance

Xiaomi Redmi Note 4's hardware is market-dependent - you can either get it with MediaTek Helio X20 or Qualcomm's Snapdragon 625 chipset. We already reviewed the Helio model and we acknowledged its great performance and battery life.

Today we are turning our attention towards the Snapdragon version, which will probably make it to more markets than the Helio X20 variant. Unfortunately, Snapdragon 625 is not as powerful - it has an octa-core Cortex-A53 processor clocked at 2.0GHz and Adreno 506 GPU. So far, so good. But it lacks the Helio X20's powerful A72 cores, which made Android operations buttery smooth.

The Note 4 may come with 2, 3, or even 4 gigabytes of RAM, depending on which storage option you get. We'd strongly suggest a model with at least 3GB of RAM if you will be relying heavily on Dual Spaces.

Let's look at the processor performance starting with a single core. The Redmi Note 4 (S625) has one of the most powerful Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and it will do great for system tasks. However, it is a no match for the A72 processor within the Helio X20 version, or the one inside the Snapdragon 650-powered Redmi Note 3.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  1551
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  1546
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  832
• Lenovo Moto M
  771
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  764
• Meizu M5 Note
  683
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  669
• Lenovo K6 Note
  635

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  1596
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1543
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  924
• Lenovo Moto M
  841
• Meizu M5 Note
  798
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  745
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  722
• Lenovo K6 Note
  672

Moving on to the multi-core performance the things do get better. The deca-core Helio X20 squashes the competition with the huge help of its A72 cores, but the Snapdragon 625-powered Redmi Note 4 handled Geekbench pretty well, too.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  4456
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  3958
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  3885
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3011
• Lenovo Moto M
  2921
• Meizu M5 Note
  2690
• Lenovo K6 Note
  2027
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  1822

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5166
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  4617
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  4537
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  4140
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  3695
• Lenovo Moto M
  3300
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  3085
• Lenovo K6 Note
  3044
• Meizu M5 Note
  2802

The Adreno 506 GPU is perfectly capable to handle 1080p resolution. The Helio-powered model has a Mali-T880MP4 GPU, which is a solid midrange performer.

The GPU tests confirmed that while the Adreno 506 GPU in our Redmi Note 4 does well, the Mali unit inside the Helio model easily outperforms it though you probably won't be able to spot a sizeable difference in real life use.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  9.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  9.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  9
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  9
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  6.2
• Lenovo Moto M
  5.2
• Lenovo K6 Note
  4.4
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  4.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  3.9
• Meizu M5 Note
  3.6
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  3.2

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  5.5
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  5.4
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  5.4
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  5.2
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  3.4
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  2.8
• Lenovo Moto M
  2.7
• Lenovo K6 Note
  2.4
• Meizu M5 Note
  1.9

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  14717
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  13666
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  12190
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  10446
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  8540
• Lenovo K6 Note
  7480
• Lenovo Moto M
  6732
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  6380
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  5383
• Meizu M5 Note
  5276

We have already established that the Helio X20 is the better chipset. Compound benchmarks such as AnTuTu and BaseMark can help us describe the actual performance gap. Indeed, the Helio model came on top of the competition, but our Snapdragon version is on par with competing phones and demonstrates adequate performance for the class.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  85162
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  77442
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  76186
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  61616
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  61020
• Lenovo Moto M
  51831
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  49094
• Meizu M5 Note
  47806
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  45474
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  45190
• Lenovo K6 Note
  44972

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (Helio X20)
  1728
• Xiaomi Redmi Pro
  1696
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (S650)
  1426
• Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
  1417
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
  1050
• Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (Helio X10)
  1018
• Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
  1007
• Motorola Moto G4 Plus
  799
• Lenovo K6 Note
  288

Here is the thing - while the Redmi Note 4 with Helio X20 is better, its availability is rather scarce and you may end up with a Chinese model cram-full with bloatware. If you are not a dedicated mobile gamer, there should be no difference for you which model you'll get. And if you are, you should be jumping to a higher tier anyway.

The Snapdragon model is intended for international markets and it does a very good job at delivering mid-range performance, while scoring an excellent mark for thermal control and battery efficiency courtesy of its 14nm manufacturing process.