Xiaomi held an interesting online event to launch the Redmi 8A in India on Wednesday, bringing the latest affordable smartphone to succeed the highly-popular Redmi 7A. While the company's India head Manu Kumar Jain confirmed that the Redmi 8 will be launched next in India, the Redmi 8A didn't miss the spotlight.
Redmi 8A comes in two variants, 2GB+32GB, 3GB+32GB, priced at Rs 6,499 and Rs 6,999. The budget smartphone will be available on Mi.com and Flipkart from September 29. The aggressive pricing makes for an ideal choice for first-time smartphone buyers. Those who cannot afford it, the Redmi 7A is going for Rs 4,999 during Diwali with Mi sale from September 28 till October 4.
But the Redmi 8A makes a strong argument in the highly competitive market. Everything from its design to certain features, the Redmi 8A seems to justify every bit of its price tag. At less than Rs 7,000, buyers get a 5,000mAh battery with fast charging support, USB Type-C port, unique design and more.
Redmi 8A features Aura Wave Grip design, something Xiaomi claims to offer better grip and fend off fingerprint smudges. There's a 6.22-inch HD display with a dot notch on the top and a Gorilla Glass 5. In the launch video, the strength of the Redmi 8A was demonstrated by dropping the phone from 5ft height and nothing happened. The budget phone also comes with a P2i coating for water resistance.
Under the hood, the Redmi 8A is powered by a massive 5,000mAh battery and 18W fast charging via USB Type-C port at this price point is a boon to the masses. The handset runs on a Snapdragon 439 chipset, features dual SIM card slots and a dedicated microSD card slot expandable up to 512GB and AI face unlock using the front camera, but it lacks a fingerprint scanner.
On the camera front, the Redmi 8A offers a 12MP Sony IMX 363 sensor with dual PD autofocus, AI portrait mode and AI scene detection. The front camera is equipped with an 8MP AI selfie camera. The handset comes in three colours, Midnight Black, Ocean Blue and Sunset Red.
Xiaomi is pitting its Redmi 8A against rivals such as Realme C2 and Samsung Galaxy M10, both of which are priced in the same range as the new Redmi phone. It remains to be seen how the response is to the new phone when it goes on sale this weekend.
