Out of all the segments in the Indian smartphone market, the budget and mid-range one is the most competitive. When we talk about this segment, there are two companies which are dominating the playing field right now – Redmi and Realme. Not only are their names similar but their smartphones also come with the same price tag thus causing confusion between buyers as to what device they should go for. Currently, the Realme 3 Pro and the Redmi Note 7 Pro retails for a starting price of Rs 13,999. Both of these phones' starting variants offer 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. As for the higher options of these phones with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage, the price tag climbs up to Rs 16,999. With these two phones making for most of the limelight in the sub-Rs 15,000 price tag, we decided to make a stand-off between these devices to help you decide which would be worth your buck.
Design and Display
When it comes to design, the Redmi Note 7 Pro takes the trophy thanks to its premium glass finish. The phone fashions Gorilla Glass 5 on the rear and front which gives it a gloss finish and also lends it a very premium feel as compared to the Realme 3 Pro. Now with that being said, the Realme 3 Pro doesn’t lag in the design department as this one also comes with gradient finish and attractive colours, but the use of plastic on the phone takes away the premium feel thus giving the Redmi Note 7 Pro an edge over the Realme 3 Pro. The Note 7 Pro has a 6.26-inch LTPS Full HD+ display which also renders punchy colours as compared to the one present on the Realme 3 Pro. But the display goes as a tie between the two smartphones.
Performance and Internal Specifications
Although on the paper, the Realme 3 Pro stands ahead of the Redmi Note 7 Pro with its Snapdragon 710 chipset as compared to Redmi’s Snapdragon 675 SoC, the latter is actually the one which outperforms between both of them. This is partly because of the new ARM Cortex A76 architecture on the Redmi Note 7 Pro. The Snapdragon 710 octa-core processor puts to use two 2.2 Ghz cores based on Qualcomm custom Kryo 360 cores, and it combines them with two ARM Cortex A75 cores and six ARM Cortex A55 cores. This is in contrast to the Snapdragon 675 which uses the Qualcomm Kryo 460 architecture based on ARM Cortex A76 thus packing two 2.0 Ghz ARM Cortex cores and six Cortex A76 cores which deliver the power and efficiency.
However, when it comes to GPU, the Snapdragon 710 certainly outperforms the Snapdragon 675 on the Redmi Note 7 Pro, as it uses the Adreno 616 GPU as opposed to the Adreno 612 GPU. When you actually get down to using these two phones, you will realise that they don’t differ that much, but for the gamers out there it might be possible that the Realme 3 Pro stands as a better deal. Also, both phones offer support for Fortnite which is a good thing in a mid-range smartphone.
Camera and Imaging
The Realme 3 Pro uses the Sony-made IMX 519 sensor which we also get to see on the OnePlus 6T, but even then, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has something to offer which the Realme 3 Pro cannot match. The Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a 48MP sensor from Sony which doesn’t fail to impress when put to use. In proper lighting conditions, the cameras on both the phones compete, and there is little to no difference in image quality. However, things flip when we move to dark settings, and this is where the camera on Redmi Note 7 Pro truly shines. Both the phones come with dark mode, but the one on Redmi Note 7 Pro stands better than its counterpart, and we would even say that the phone’s night mode is also the best one in the given price range.
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Video recording is also slightly better on the Redmi Note 7 Pro and the phone offers 4K recording at 30fps, but the stabilisation is limited to 1080p recording at 60fps.
Battery
As for the battery, the Note 7 Pro has a 4000mAh unit, while its counterpoint boasts of a 4045mAh unit. The battery life on both smartphones is quite similar, but the Realme 3 Pro offers VOOC 3.0 charging support which stands apart from the Note 7 Pro. Don't get us wrong, the Note 7 Pro also supports Qualcomm Quick Charge 4.0 technology, but you'll have to purchase it separately and there are no charges available in the market right now. All you can do is purchase the Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 charger from Xiaomi's official website to enjoy faster charge speeds. And yes, the Note 7 Pro has a USB Type-C port while the Realme 3 Pro uses the old Micro USB port.
Verdict
Like we mentioned above, no matter how many comparisons we do, this decision is a tough call. There is also the fact to consider that many users would prefer the Realme 3 Pro as opposed to the Redmi Note 7 Pro because of the ads that the UI comes with courtesy of the MIUI. However, given the camera and design, it would make sense to buy the Redmi Note 7 Pro at this price range. But still, if you’d like to give Realme a shot, then the Realme 3 Pro is not here to disappoint you.
