Redmi Note 10 Series: The new budget king lands on Malaysian shores

Xiaomi is fresh off the launch of the Mi 11, arguably the best flagship smartphone you can get your hands on for less than RM3,000. But the company isn’t stopping there, with sub-brand Redmi now launching what could be the best smartphone you can get for under the RM1,000 mark: the Redmi Note 10 series.

There are two options within the series: the Redmi Note 10 Pro and the standard Redmi Note 10—and both offer some serious value for money. Of course, this isn’t the first time that we’re seeing super value-for-money phones from the company, and the Redmi name has certainly been built on cramming a serious amount of specs into an affordable package.

Ready? Here’s what you need to know.

Price and availability

The regular Redmi Note 10 is available in two configurations that include up to 128GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is available with a single storage option of 128GB, although you have RAM choices of up to 8GB.

The Redmi Note 10 Pro will be available at authorised retailers and Lazada from the 15th of March 2021 in three colours: Onyx Gray, Glacier Blue, and Gradient Bronze.

Meanwhile, the Redmi Note 10 will be available on Lazada and authorised retailers from the 8th of March 2021, with three colours available: Onyx Gray, Pebble White, and Lake Green. Official pricing for the Malaysian market is as follows:

Redmi Note 10 – 4GB RAM, 64GB storage – RM699 (available for RM649 during flash sale from 8–9 March 2021)
Redmi Note 10 – 6GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM799
Redmi Note 10 Pro – 6GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM999
Redmi Note 10 Pro – 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM1,099

Redmi Note 10 Pro specs

This headliner here is that this is the first time we’re seeing a 120Hz AMOLED display on a Redmi Note smartphone, while the 108MP main camera is also a first for the series. This 108MP f/1.9 wide-angle camera is complemented with an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle camera, a 5MP f/2.4 telemacro camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor. Up front, you’re looking at a 16MP front-facing camera with an f/2.45 aperture.

Under the hood, the Redmi Note 10 Pro is also powered by Qualcomm’s capable, upper-midrange Snapdragon 732G, and you’re looking at LPDDR4X memory and UFS2.2 storage. And to sustain the device, Xiaomi has equipped the Pro with a relatively large 5,020mAh battery—which can be charged at up to 33W via USB-C.

As mentioned earlier, Redmi’s newest device also comes with a 6.67″ AMOLED DotDisplay pushing a refresh rate of 120Hz. The display also comes with support for HDR10, and Xiaomi has equipped this model with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for some added protection. Plus, the Note 10 Pro is also rated for IP53 splash and water resistance—not quite enough to take on swims, but enough to withstand a little sweat or light drizzle.

There’s also something they’re calling an “Arc side fingerprint sensor”, which… appears to be simply a side-mounted fingerprint scanner that sits flush on the body of the phone. Putting that aside, you do get the usual bag of tricks that you’d be happy to find on a budget phone: an IR blaster, a 3.5mm jack, stereo speakers, NFC, and expandable storage. The good news? You’ll get a 33W charging brick in the box.

PS: This ships with Android 11-based MIUI 12.

Redmi Note 10 specs

Moving down a rung, the standard Note 10 doesn’t have the fancy, buttery smooth 120Hz refresh rate of the Pro model. In fact, not even a 90Hz refresh rate. Here, you’re looking at a more conventional 60Hz 6.43″ AMOLED display pushing a FHD+ resolution of 2400×1080 pixels, while you also miss out on the 108MP camera of the Pro.

The quad-camera rear setup is made up of a 48MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.79, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide shooter, 2MP f/2.4 macro lens, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor for those bokeh-ed shots. For selfies, you have a 13MP front-facing shooter with an aperture of f/2.45.

And under the hood, the Redmi Note 10 is powered by the Snapdragon 678, and you also get a large 5,000mAh battery that should be enough to make this a multi-day device. Plus, 33W wired fast-charging is also supported on the Note 10, just like the Pro. You do miss out on NFC here, however, although you get a Dual SIM tray and an IR blaster (y’know, so you can change the channel at your local mamaks).

You also get the same “Arc” side-mounted fingerprint scanner as the Pro, and this is also a USB-C phone. Finally. Gone are the days of budget phones using microUSB, and good riddance. In any case, you get a 33W charging brick in the box, which means that you’ll be able to take full advantage of the phone’s max fast-charging speeds on day one.

And yes, we can confirm that the Redmi Note 10 has a dedicated microSD slot for expandable storage.

So, what do you guys think? Is the Redmi Note 10 Pro the best smartphone you can get for under RM999? Probably. We’ll be working on more content on the series, but in the meantime, share your thoughts in the comments section down below.