Last week we reviewed the Redmi K50 Pro with Dimensity 9000, which is a great phone. But today’s phone is even better. The Budget flagship phone: Redmi K50 with Dimensity 8100 is coming! In today’s review, we focus on the K50’s Dimensity 8100, camera system, charging, and battery life.
As you can see from the table, these are the three main differences between them. If you are concerned about other features of the K50, you can watch our K50 Pro review video, they are almost the same.
Before we get to the test, I would like to introduce the Dimensity 8100 chip.
I don’t want to make it too complicated but simply put, this chip is a sub-flagship SoC launched by MTK to counter the Snapdragon 888. So if it performs better than the Snapdragon 888 in tests, then the purpose of this chip will be achieved.
Let’s look at the Geekbench 5 CPU performance test. As you can see from the graph, although its single-core performance is a bit worse than the Snapdragon 888, the Dimensity 8100 has surpassed the Snapdragon 888 in multi-core performance. It even surpassed the Snapdragon 8Gen1’s multi-core performance level. So it looks like Dimensity 8100 has exceeded its goal. But after receiving an update, Redmi has limited the K50 and the multi-core scores have dropped significantly. While we don’t know why Redmi did this, at least the scores from the last version prove how powerful the Dimensity 8100’s CPU really is.
In the 3D Mark GPU test, the Dimensity 8100 scores are slightly ahead of the Snapdragon 888, but there is a significant gap with both the Snapdragon 8Gen1 and the Dimensity 9000. In the 3DMark stress test, the stability is much better than the Snapdragon 888’s Mi 11 Ultra.
Overall, at least in the Benchmark Test, MTK’s Dimensity 8100 achieves what they expected: Performance surpasses Snapdragon 888 in an all-around way.
The score is just a number, the game is what we really care about. I have to say, Genshin Impact is a really good game. It’s pretty much the only mainstream game in mobile gaming right now that can put huge stress on a phone. So lets check how this phone performs., here’s the graph for the Snapdragon 888 phone.
Dimensity 8100 vs 9000 vs Snapdragon 8 Gen1 vs Snapdragon 888 – Gaming Performance
Here’s the graph showing Dimensity 9000, Snapdragon 888, SD 8 Gen1, and Dimensity 8100 phones.
Looking at the above graph, we can see that the frame rate was held steady at 60fps for 11 minutes. And most of the time the frame rate was above 50fps. Do you think this is the best thing about K50? Hold your breath, there’s more to come. Look closely at the Avg Power, the K50 has a far better gaming experience with far less power than the Xiaomi 12 Pro. The 20-minute Genshin Impact only consumed 9% power. The maximum temperature did not exceed 48 degrees Celsius either. Without a doubt, the K50 Standard Edition is one of the best performing phones we’ve tested this year with the Genshin Impact.
Brightridge’s fps is more dependent on GPU performance, so the K50, like other Snapdragon 888 phones, will have a lower avg fps compared to this year’s flagship chips. But at least the Dimensity 8100 remains very power efficient and with low temperature.
PUBG Mobile is not yet compatible with Dimensity 8100 phones, so you can’t turn on HDR Graphics and the frame rate is locked at a maximum of 30 fps. If you like to play PUBG you must think carefully about whether you can accept this kind of gaming experience.
All in all, this Dimensity 8100 processor in the Redmi K50 has an excellent performance. It is both power efficient and ensures long-time performance output. All things considered, unless you are a Brightridge fan, it is probably the best chip for gaming this year.
Redmi K50 Cameras
Main Camera
Although 108MP sounds much better than 48MP, in reality the K50’s 48MP main camera level is about the same as the K50 Pro. In daytime scenes, 90% of the scenes I could not see any difference even if I zoomed in. Only in some scenes could I tell that the dynamic range of the K50 Pro was indeed a little better than the K50 Standard. At night the photos from both phones look similar, the K50 Pro has less dark noise and the K50 Standard has better clarity. It’s hard to say who’s photos are a little better. As for the other two lenses, they take exactly the same photos, I won’t comment on them. So there is no need for you to buy the more expensive K50 Pro in order to get better photos.
Ultrawide Camera
The K50 also supports up to 4K 30fps recording. It doesn’t look any different from the K50 Pro.
Redmi K50 Battery & Charging
Although the charging power of 67w is already quite fast, it is still slow compared to 120w. Plus with a large 5500mAh battery, it takes 5 minutes to charge 19%, half an hour to charge 74%, and 53 minutes to fill. Because we don’t have another 5500mAh phone, plus the highest quality or resolution of the games that can be selected is not the same. The chart shows the battery life test for reference only. But with such a large capacity battery and Dimensity 8100’s excellent power control performance, you can be assured of a full day of use.
Of the three K50 series phones released so far, I like this K50 Standard Edition the best. I’m sure everyone is thinking the same thing as me. You can spend less money, but get a better gaming experience and longer battery life. The screen is also WQHD+ and the camera is better than expected.
If K50 Pro can be called “Flagship Killer”, then K50 can also be called “Budget Flagship phone”.
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