Xiaomi, in an online event yesterday (majorly targeted towards the Chinese demographic), announced the launch of its latest update to its custom Android skin, MIUI 12, and also announced a new smartphone which is the Mi 10 Youth Edition. The Mi 10 Youth Edition (or Mi 10 Lite) is a 5G enabled smartphone with a major emphasis on camera. The top-end variant of the Mi 10 Youth Edition is actually priced quite close to the base variant of the Redmi K30 Pro from Xiaomi which actually has flagship-grade specifications. Let’s see what the major differences are between both phones and which one should you consider buying.
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Mi 10 Youth Edition vs Redmi K30 Pro: Build and Design
Both, the Mi 10 Youth Edition and the Redmi K30 Pro share a similar design language due to the fact that they’re essentially made by the same parent company. There’s curved glass on the back along with glossy colors supported by an aluminum frame. The Mi 10 Youth Edition has a more curved look to it especially on the edges while the K30 Pro has a boxier design. The Mi 10 Youth Edition is also slightly easier to handle due to its smaller footprint.
Display
The first major difference between the Mi 10 Youth Edition and the Redmi K30 Pro is in terms of the display. Not the display tech necessarily because both phones come with an AMOLED panel and even the sizes aren’t that different – 6.57-inches on the Mi 10 Youth Edition and 6.67-inches on the Redmi K30 Pro. However, the Mi 10 Youth Edition has a dew-drop notch for the front-facing camera while the Redmi K30 Pro has an all-display front and retains the pop-up camera mechanism from the K20 Pro. This gives it a more seamless experience while consuming content.
Performance
This is another area where we see a big difference between both phones. The internals on the Mi 10 Youth Edition is mid-range with the Snapdragon 765G running the show. While the Snapdragon 765G is one of the best mid-range chips Qualcomm has to offer, it stands no chance against the Snapdragon 865 on the Redmi K30 Pro. Both chipsets, however, are 5G enabled. While you may not notice a major difference between both phones in day-to-day performance, intensive tasks like gaming are where the Snapdragon 865 will start showing its true prowess.
While both come with 6/8GB RAM options and 64/128/256GB of internal storage, the storage used on the Mi 10 Youth Edition is UFS 2.1 whereas, on the Redmi K30 Pro, you get the faster and more recent UFS 3.0. If you’re a power user, the Redmi K30 Pro is for you.
Cameras
The Mi 10 Youth Edition, as we mentioned earlier is a camera-centric smartphone and comes with a 48MP primary camera, an 8MP ultra-wide shooter, a 2MP macro lens and the main specialty – an 8MP periscope camera with up to 5X optical zoom which is one of the first of its kind at this price point. The Redmi K30 Pro, on the other hand, has a 64MP primary sensor with a 5MP telephoto, 13MP ultra-wide, and 2MP depth sensor. There is a variant of the Redmi K30 Pro, which is the zoom edition that has up to 30X zoom capabilities but that is priced considerably higher. If you take a lot of pictures zoomed-in, then the Mi 10 Youth Edition might appeal to you. The front-facing camera on the Mi 10 Youth Edition is a 16MP shooter while the one on the Redmi K30 Pro is a 20MP sensor.
Battery and Charging
The Mi 10 Youth Edition has a less power-hungry chip and hence has a 4160mAh battery compared to the 4700mAh cell on the Redmi K30 Pro. The K30 Pro also has faster charging at 33W while the Mi 10 Youth Edition only gets a 22.5W charger.
Redmi K30 Pro vs Mi 10 Lite: Which one should you get?
The Redmi K30 Pro looks like the obvious better choice if you can spend the extra 700 Yuan (Rs. 7,500) if you’re considering the base variants of both. However, the base variant of the Mi 10 Youth Edition has just 64GB of internal storage so if you want the 128GB variant, it will cost you 2499 Yuan (Rs. 27,000) against the 2999 Yuan (Rs. 33,000) price tag of the Redmi K30 Pro. Is it worth the extra price? If you’re looking for a smartphone specifically for gaming or you really want that full-view display without a notch, then yes. Otherwise, the Mi 10 Youth Edition will perform equally well in day-to-day tasks and the cameras are really good too.