Can Cheap Phones Be Good? Redmi A4 5G Tries To Answer

Can you live with a smartphone that costs less than INR 10,000? You can but there are lots of compromises to deal with.

Quality isn't the topmost priority with budget phones. Compared to a top-tier iPhone, these budget phones may not be as reliable and the cost-cutting usually affects the end-user experience. 720p display, ugly bezels, plasticky finish and potato cameras. You do get compatibility with 4G networks but that's it. 5G has been reserved for the well-heeled.

Until now!

Xiaomi in the past has delivered some of the most affordable entry-level Android smartphones with its A series and after experimenting with the high-end segment for a few years, the brand is back with its much sought-after A series. Meet the Redmi A4 5G, which is now claimed to be the cheapest 5G smartphone available in India. The highlight being the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4S Gen 2 chipset, this phone brings 5G to the masses.

That sounds great. But is the rest of the phone as promising as Xiaomi claims?

Redmi A4 5G features at a glance

The Redmi A4 5G features a 6.88-inch HD resolution display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The back panel of the smartphone is made of glass and flaunts the circular camera module, something that Xiaomi calls the Halo Glass Sandwich design.

The smartphone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4S Gen 2 SoC, a 4nm architecture-based chipset with two performance cores and six power-efficient cores. Xiaomi has paired the processor with 4GB of onboard RAM, which can be expanded up to 8GB via Virtual RAM technology. This smartphone supports dual 5G connectivity, dual-band Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0.

There is a 5160mAh battery that supports 18W wired charging. Surprisingly, Xiaomi is shipping the phone with a 33W wired charger.

In terms of optics, the smartphone features a 50-megapixel primary camera paired with a secondary auxiliary lens to sense depth. The smartphone can capture portrait photos with its 5-megapixel selfie sensor.Xiaomi has also equipped the smartphone with a 3.5mm headphone jack.

On the software side, the phone runs Android 14-based Hyper OS and users will receive two years of Android updates and four years of security updates.

Redmi A4 5G variants

The Redmi A4 5G comes in Starry Black and Sparkle Purple tones and is available in two versions. The base 4GB + 64GB version is available for INR 8,499 and the 4GB + 128GB version is available for INR 9,499. The sale starts on 27 November 2024.

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A glance at the competition

In this price range, smartphones like the Moto G45 5G come with 4GB RAM, 128GB storage, a 50-megapixel rear camera and a Snapdragon 6S Gen 3 chip but costs around INR 10,999. Below INR 10,000, we have devices like the Poco M6 5G. Poco uses a MediaTek chipset but compromises on the refresh rate, offering just 90Hz.

The Redmi A4 5G is one of the cheapest Snapdragon-powered 5G devices and it offers almost every useful feature, including a 120Hz refresh rate and a battery life of over 5000mAh.

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