The Xiaomi Redmi 3 isn’t officially available in Malaysia yet but they have announced even more variants of the Redmi 3 series in China. Following the announcement of its higher-end Redmi 3 Pro, the Chinese company now has the Redmi 3S and the Redmi 3X. The Redmi 3S looks like an updated version of the Redmi 3 but it still maintains the same starting price of 699 CNY which is below RM500.
Redmi 3S
The design of the Redmi 3S is identical with the Redmi 3 Pro, with a metal unibody design and it also comes with a fingerprint scanner across the range. You have a choice between a standard version (2GB RAM + 16G storage) at 699 CNY (about RM434) or a higher spec version (3GB RAM + 32GB storage) at 899 CNY (about RM559). The front display retains a 5″ 720p screen and it gets a camera combo of 13MP f/2.0 for the rear and 5MP f/2.2 at the front.
The biggest change is the processor and GPU. The Redmi 3 was using a Snapdragon 616 Octa-Core processor (4×1.5GHz + 4×1.2GHz) but the new Redmi 3S gets a Snapdragon 430 Octa-Core (4×1.4GHz + 4×1.1GHz) unit instead. Gaming should be better on the 3S as it uses Adreno 505 GPU instead of Adreno 405. Keeping the lights on is a generous 4,100mAh battery which is similar to the Redmi 3.
The Redmi 3 supports 4G LTE with dual-SIMs and the hybrid SIM tray slot also accepts microSD up to 128GB. It supports a wide variety of 4G networks including both FDD and TDD-LTE standards.
Redmi 3X
The Redmi 3X, however, is a device that’s launched exclusively for China Unicom. It comes in a single option at 899 CNY but it gets less RAM at 2GB RAM while maintaining a modest 32GB of on-board storage.
Design wise, it looks more squarish and the sides are flat with chamfered edges like an honor 5X. The rest of the hardware are similar with a Snapdragon 430 Octa-Core processor, 5″ HD 720p display and a pair of 13MP + 5MP cameras. It also has a 4,100mAh battery and it supports Dual-SIMs with 4G LTE.
For our local market, Xiaomi is still pushing their Redmi 2 which is priced at RM399 for the standard model and RM529 for the enhanced version. If you’re looking for the latest, the Mi 5 is finally going on sale this Saturday through Thorus dealers. It is priced at RM1,549 which comes with a 1.8GHz Snapdragon 820 processor, 3GB RAM and 32GB of UFS 2.0 storage.
