The Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 and Redmi Note 7 Pro are the true successors of the Redmi Note 3

In this world of constant leaks, Xiaomi’s Indian launch event for the Redmi Note 7 caught us slightly off-guard. Leaks and information building up to the event indicated that Xiaomi would be launching two devices in India, but one of these devices would be sporting a 12MP dual rear camera setup instead of the 48MP rear camera as was seen on the Chinese Xiaomi Redmi Note 7. This led us to believe that Xiaomi would be launching the Chinese Redmi Note 7 as the Redmi Note 7 Pro for India, since the Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro with the 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor had not launched in China yet. By deferring the Chinese launch of the Pro variant and prioritizing India as the stage for the global launch of the device, Xiaomi sent out a clear message to its competition: Xiaomi really means business in India.

The Redmi Note Dynasty

Xiaomi’s Redmi lineup is the company’s most successful product lineup in India. In fact, Xiaomi sold 12 Million Redmi Note devices in 2018, which is more than the total sales of Realme, Huawei, Honor, and Asus combined (though to put things into perspective, Samsung, OPPO, and Vivo are the next big sellers after Xiaomi). Xiaomi’s first Redmi Note phone in India was the Redmi Note 4G in 2014, which is credited to be one of the first phones in the country to bring 4G connectivity to the budget segment. While the device was capable in its own right, it failed to really capture the market as Xiaomi was still in the process of setting itself up in India at the time.

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The Redmi Note 3 in 2016 was when Xiaomi truly managed to create a ripple. Xiaomi had better marketing and after-sales setup in the country, and it was in the process of figuring out how to approach offline sales. What helped the Redmi Note 3 was the included Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 in the device, a hexa-core SoC which featured dual Cortex-A72 cores that allowed the phone to handle intensive tasks with ease, and quad Cortex-A53 cores which allowed the phone to breeze through routine, low-intensity workflows with great efficiency. What really helped the Redmi Note 3 sell well in the country was the fact that Xiaomi priced it in a completely predatory manner. Starting off at ₹9,999 for the 2GB+16GB variant and ₹11,999 for the 3GB+32GB variant, the Redmi Note 3 simply left no room for the competition to survive. We called the Redmi Note 3 “The King of Low End” in our device review—a title that did not age well as the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 ended up redefining how we bifurcate the budget segment of the market, going from price-oriented segments to performance-oriented segments. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was not a low-end device: It was a solid performer on a tight budget.



With its successors, Xiaomi attempted to recreate the magic and was successful for the most part. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 did not attempt to fix what was not broken, but it did opt for a Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, an SoC that came to be known for its superb efficiency and adoption in so many more Xiaomi devices. The Chinese OEM also managed to hover around the same price tag, giving out the 2GB+32GB variant for ₹9,999, 3GB+32GB for ₹10,999 and 4GB+64GB for ₹12,999. In our review of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, we noted that the biggest competition to the device was its own predecessor. The Redmi Note 4 was not bad in any way; the Redmi Note 3 was just that great. Xiaomi eventually ran out of stock with the Redmi Note 3, which allowed the Redmi Note 4 to truly shine and take the top spot as Xiaomi’s best seller.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was just that great.

Xiaomi followed up with the Redmi Note 5 and the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The Redmi Note 5 came with a taller display and improvements to the camera, but retained the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625; the Note 5 Pro came with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 SoC, dual rear cameras and an upgraded front camera. The draw with the Snapdragon 636 were its semi-custom Kryo 260 cores, a setup that consisted of 4x Cortex-A73 derivative “performance” cores and 4x Cortex-A53 derivative “efficiency” cores. While the Snapdragon 636 did perform better than the Snapdragon 625, the Redmi Note 5 Pro just could not come close to the value proposition that the Redmi Note 3 brought to the table with its Snapdragon 650. The Snapdragon 636-equipped Redmi Note 5 Pro came in at ₹13,999 for 4GB+64GB and ₹16,999 for 6GB+64GB, while the Snapdragon 625-equipped Redmi Note 5 stuck closer to the Redmi Note 3 pricing with ₹9,999 for 3GB+32GB and ₹11,999 for the 4GB+64GB variant.

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Similarly, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro followed along, with Xiaomi strangely opting to choose the Snapdragon 636 again, instead of going with the Snapdragon 660 SoC that many of the competing phones in the market came out with. Xiaomi chose to focus more on the camera prowess of the device, but in our eyes, there really wasn’t a whole lot of improvements done to the device to justify a number upgrade. As Kishan pointed out in his review of the Redmi Note 6 Pro, “There’s nothing to complain about the Redmi Note 6 Pro, but there’s nothing to boast about it either, except for the camera performance.”

Costing a decent ₹13,999 for 4GB+64GB and ₹15,999 for 6GB+64GB, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro lost out on the charm of the Redmi Note 3 as it allowed the competition to creep in much closer, while the pricing on the device started creeping north. However, Xiaomi managed to harvest its brand goodwill built up over the years to ensure that the phone sold well, even better than what its predecessors could manage. Make no mistake, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro was not a bad phone, the Redmi Note 3 was just that good. (Xiaomi did not even count the Redmi Note 6 Pro in the “Redmi Note legacy” slide (pictured above) during their presentation)