Realme 3 Pro vs Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro: Which smartphone should you finally buy?

Realme finally ended the suspense around its new smartphone by officially launching Realme 3 Pro in India on Monday. Even before the unveiling of the new Realme smartphone, it was pretty clear that the handset would be competing against none other than Xiaomi's best-selling Redmi Note 7 Pro. As Realme 3 Pro's price, features and specifications were revealed, the rivalry became obvious.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro was launched in India in February and the handset was met with instant success. Due to an overwhelming demand for the feature-rich, affordably-priced smartphone, the Redmi Note 7 Pro was available in flash sales. But now there's a tougher competition in Xiaomi's way, which could easily sway buyers in the other direction.

But choosing between Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro and the all-new Realme 3 Pro can be a daunting task, which is why we have a comparison of both phones feature-by-feature. This should help with your buying decision. Before we get to the features, let us give you pricing details of both phones.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro comes in two variants, 4GB+64GB and 6GB+128GB, and they are priced at Rs 13,999 and Rs 16,999, respectively. As for the Realme 3 Pro, you get the same storage and RAM configurations and the pricing of both variants also remains the same. Seeing Realme 3 Pro is a new phone, there are a few things, including offers, to note.

Realme 3 Pro will be available exclusively on Realme and Flipkart online stores starting April 29. First 1,000 buyers of the handset from the company's official site will get free Realme Buds as well as 15 percent supercash cashback by paying with Mobikwik. Other offers include, Rs 1,000 flat discount on buying the phone with HDFC Bank cards and EMI transactions, no-cost EMI up to 6 months, and Reliance Jio benefits worth Rs 5,300.

Getting back the products, here's how Realme 3 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro fare against one another.

Design and display

Realme 3 Pro and Redmi Note 7 Pro are like identical twins. They both come with 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. Both phones have a gradient back, but the different colour reproduction makes them unique.

Redmi Note 7 Pro comes in black, blue and red colours while the Realme 3 Pro Carbon Grey, Nitro Blue, and Lightning Purple colour options.

Camera

This is a crucial factor and it looks like there's going to be a fight between Xiaomi and Redmi phones. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro is popularly touted as the camera beast with a 48MP primary lens paired with a 5MP secondary snapper at the back, complete with features like PDAF< EIS, AI portrait and dual LED flash. On the front, the Redmi Note 7 Pro has a 13MP camera with AI Portrait mode.

On the other hand, Realme 3 Pro also has a dual camera setup at the back but chooses a 16MP primary camera with f/1.7 aperture (IMX519 sensor), paired with a 5MP secondary camera with f/2.4 aperture (GC5035 sensor). The front camera gets a 25MP sensor with f/2.0 aperture.

The megapixels are not the defining factor for better photos, so users might see great results on both phones with little difference. There are some interesting features like 960fps super slo-mo support and Ultra HD mode to capture 64MP photos along with Nightscape for low-light photos.

We have tried the Redmi Note 7 Pro camera and the results are impressive for a smartphone in its range, but we are waiting to test out the Realme 3 Pro, so it's best to reserve the final call for a while longer.

Performance

Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro comes with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 chipset whereas the Realme 3 Pro gets an upgraded Snapdragon 710 processor. With both phones getting the same RAM and storage, we can expect the Realme 3 Pro to have a slight edge over the Xiaomi phone, but that doesn't leave the Redmi Note 7 Pro in the underperforming category.

Battery

Realme 3 pro comes with a 4,045mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charging support, which is a boon for many. Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro gets a 4,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4.0 support, which isn't as fast as the VOOC 3.0 so users benefit from the Realme phone in terms of charging speed. As for battery life, both phones will last more or less the same.

Add-ons

Realme 3 Pro comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, a micoSD card slot, Bluetooth 5.0 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4GHz+5GHz), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a microUSB port. While the Redmi Note 7 Pro gets all the features, Xiaomi replaces the microUSB with a USB Type-C port, which is quite interesting.