Here’s why Redmi A4 5G is an important phone for India

The Redmi A4 5G houses a new entry-level 5G chip from Qualcomm. This system-on-chip (SoC) officially goes by Snapdragon 4s Gen 2.

Though it sounds like an upgraded version of Snapdragon 4 Gen 2, the chip is a watered-down variant. This is not bad since it is the primary reason the phone is affordable.

Despite being a downgraded chip, the SoC is better than offerings from MediaTek and Unisoc in the segment. 

For the unaware, the Snapdragon 4s Gen 2 is a 4nm chip comprising an octa-core CPU and an unnamed Adreno GPU. The CPU consists of 2 x Corex-A78 cores clocked at 2GHz and 6 x Cortex-A55 cores at 1.8GHz.

The chip is primarily targeted at $100 5G smartphones. Thus, the Redmi A4 5G is the first device to use it as the lineup has been one of the top sellers since its introduction. The phone is expected to help popularise the chip.

Currently, there’s only one sub-₹10,000 5G smartphone in India called Tecno Pop 9 5G. Unfortunately, not many know about this phone which retails at ₹9,499. It is also the only handset to support contactless payments in its segment.

Soon, it will have a competitor in the form of Redmi A4 5G. The upcoming Xiaomi phone is tipped to cost just ₹8,499 (including offers). The selling price could be more or less the same as Pop 9 or a bit cheaper.

We expect more competitors to follow in the coming months.

Following the launch of Redmi A4 5G, we expect more sub-₹10,000 5G smartphones in India.

These products will be either driven by the same Qualcomm chip or chips from other players. 

MediaTek and Unisoc could be already working on a competitor to Snapdragon 4s Gen 2. In the meantime, they might lower the price of their existing entry-level 5G chips to help OEMs with the competition.

If you have been following the Indian smartphone market for a long time, you may have already got an idea of how history is repeating itself. 

Exactly a decade ago, a similar important product debuted in India. This one too was from Xiaomi. For those wondering, we are talking about Redmi Note 4G, which laid the foundation for sub-₹10,000 4G smartphones in the country.

But will Xiaomi manage to recreate the success in the 5G era? Only time will tell.