Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro vs Apple iPhone SE: Compelling choices, irresistible prices

The midrange smartphone segment is presently full of tempting offerings from the Android universe. You have got bigger phablets, camera-focused phones and some with premium glass-metal bodies. The Redmi Note 5 Pro from Xiaomi is one of the latest ones in this segment that offers commendable everyday performance paired with good cameras in a reasonably well-built metal body. While the base variant starts at Rs 13,999, the top-end variant for Rs 16,999 is equipped with 6GB of RAM, making one of the first ones to offer colossal amounts of RAM for easy multitasking.

However, Apple’s budget offering from 2016 — the iPhone SE, has seen massive price cuts over the years and presently retails for Rs 18,999 on certain e-commerce platforms. Dubbed as the most powerful 4-inch smartphone, the iPhone SE has been known to be a smooth performer over its lifecycle and carries the prestigious Apple logo at the back.

If you are in the market for a midrange smartphone, both the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the iPhone SE present themselves as irresistible choices in their own sweet ways. However, which one is a better choice out of the two? We pit the Xiaomi against the baby iPhone in a head-to-head.

Design, Build:

The Redmi Note 5 Pro is one of the most premium looking midrange smartphones you can presently buy in the market. It adorns the modern 18:9 form factor, which also makes it easier to hold than its predecessors. The narrow-bezel-display surely grabs attention. The rear is made out of a metal and plastic combo (metal panel and plastic caps to aid radio reception). Since its made by Xiaomi, there has to be some element inspired by Apple’s premium iPhones and the Note 5 Pro is no exception — it borrows the iPhone X’s camera module design. Therefore, if you wanted an iPhone X-lookalike on a budget, then this is one of your best bets.

However, put the iPhone SE beside the Note 5 Pro and you can immediately feel the difference in the build. The iPhone SE came to India as a premium midrange smartphone and therefore carried Apple’s trademark flagship-class build quality and finish. Even after two years, the iPhone SE aesthetically impresses us immensely with its metal-glass body. The classic iPhone design still feels attractive, despite carrying chunky bezels all around along with a Home button. The 4-inch form factor makes it a joy to use for those prefer a compact smartphone — one can reach all four corners of the display without needing the other hand to hold the phone. The rear is dominated by a metal panel, accompanied by two glass sections on top and bottom. And one of the most important features of an iPhone rests perfectly in the centre — the Apple logo. Little details such as chamfered edges, the circular buttons and speaker grille make the Note 5 Pro look like a toy in comparison.

The Redmi Note 5 Pro is a well-built smartphone for its price, but the sheer brilliance of the iPhone SE’s aesthetics make it an absolute winner in this category.

Winner: Apple iPhone SE

Display:

This is where the scales are naturally tipped towards the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The big 5.9-inch full HD+ IPS LCD panel with an 18:9 aspect ratio makes it look gigantic when compared to the iPhone SE’s puny 4-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 640x1136 pixels. Whether you are reading messages, playing games or watching movies, the experience is simply more immersive on the Redmi Note 5 Pro. The display renders natural colours with average contrast and brightness.

Mind you, the iPhone SE’s display has noticeably better colours than the Redmi Note 5 Pro, making it suitable for checking out photo-centric social platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest.

Winner: Redmi Note 5 Pro

Performance:

The Redmi Note 5 Pro is one of the first smartphones in India to sport Qualcomm’s latest performance focused Snapdragon 636 chipset accompanied by 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. It runs on Android 7.1-based MIUI 9. As we stated in our review, the Note 5 Pro is a fast smartphone that doesn’t show lags or stutters in daily usage scenarios. Resource-intensive games run pretty well, albeit not in the highest settings. Due to the presence of a custom version of Android, one can customise the smartphone to their heart’s content with themes, wallpapers and even the notification panel.

However, Android isn’t one of the most secure platforms, which is where Apple’s iOS shines. The iPhone SE is presently running on the latest iOS 11.3 and rocks an Apple A9 dual-core CPU along with 2GB of RAM, which may look insufficient on paper. However, nerds will know that iOS is extensively optimised for every Apple device and therefore, its performance figures are on par with the iPhone 6S, which is no slouch by today’s standards. In fact, the iPhone SE scored an AnTuTu score of 134358, which is drastically more than the Redmi Note 5 Pro’s score of 112649. Therefore, you pick up any game from the App Store and you can it expect it to work effortlessly on the iPhone SE. Games open faster than the Note 5 Pro and you can multitask with 4-5 apps with ease — no lags or stutters noticeable. Most of that mega-performance is down to the GPU pushing lesser pixels on the SE’s display. Since iOS is a closed ecosystem, the iPhone SE offers fewer customisation options to its users, which is good enough for those looking for a no-nonsense user interface.

Winner: Apple iPhone SE

Camera:

This is an area where the Redmi Note 5 Pro takes a marginal edge. The Note 5 Pro’s 12MP+5MP dual rear camera takes noticeably good pictures with natural colours, adequate details and decent low light performance. There’s a portrait mode that is pretty decent at giving out bokeh shots with naturally blurred backgrounds. The 20MP single selfie camera with an LED flash also utilises AI to take impressive bokeh selfies.

The iPhone SE, on the other hand, has a 12MP rear camera and while it takes good photos, it is showing its age. The photos have adequate colours and decent contrast with adequate detailing. But, the results not on par with the Note 5 Pro's camera. The front 1.2MP selfie sensor is good enough for video calls. Additionally, there’s no bokeh-based portrait mode, which could be a deal-breaker for those obsessed with photography. However, the iPhone SE can shoot 4K videos at 30fps, making it one of the few phones in this range to shoot 4K videos.

Unless you shoot 4K videos a lot, the iPhone SE is recommended. However, for everything else, the Redmi Note 5 Pro takes the lead in the camera department.

Winner: Redmi Note 5 Pro

Battery:

Xiaomi’s Redmi series has always been about bigger batteries and the Note 5 Pro with its bigger 4000mAh battery is no exception. On a full charge with moderate usage, the Note 5 Pro can last you easily for a day and a half. The iPhone SE, on the other hand, has a comparatively smaller 1,624mAh battery. However, with a smaller display and a highly optimised power-efficient OS, the iPhone SE can last almost a full day on a single charge under moderate usage, which isn’t on par with the Note 5 Pro’s battery life but is still impressive nonetheless.

Winner: Redmi Note 5 Pro

Value:

This is where the scales are balanced for both the parties. The open-source nature of Android OS (not the latest one though) on the Redmi Note 5 Pro gives you access to millions of apps, games and launchers, both from the Google PlayStore and various third-party sources. You can download songs and transfer them to other Android users in whichever way you fancy — Bluetooth and Wi-Fi sharing. You can plug in flash drives and even a conventional mouse as well, which almost makes it a portable computer. However, Android isn’t the most secure platform and therefore, you keep on getting exposed to news alerts of another malware attacking Android smartphones over a particular year. Add to that Xiaomi’s persistent addition of bloatware over the time and you end up with a software experience that gets stale over the course of time. And as for updates, midrange Xiaomi phones only get to enjoy one major Android OS update, that too a year after Google releases it for the market. While one may argue that MIUI’s monthly updates add new features and fix issues, the newer releases bring with them new issues and tend to slow down the device over the course of time.

The iPhone SE focuses on the Note 5 Pro’s shortcomings here — an almost stable OS experience followed by timely security updates. iOS is tastefully designed with a polished user interface, with a focus on small conveniences that are relevant to the user in daily usage scenarios. Apple’s exceptional support for iPhones is proven, which means that if you prefer keeping your phone with you for longer periods of time, then the iPhone SE has you covered for two more years, which is certainly better than Xiaomi’s single-year support for its midrangers. And, at the end of the day, it’s an iPhone — a name that’s enough to raise your collar in the society. However, iOS is a walled garden and therefore, you will have to adapt to iOS’s way instead of making the phone adapt to you. With the iPhone SE, you will be forced to stay with Apple’s services for a better experience (such as Siri’s integration with Apple Music) instead of choosing third-party ones, which Android allows. Therefore, if you don’t want to be locked in a closed ecosystem, it is advisable to stay away from the iPhone SE.

But the most important thing is the price — the iPhone SE costs Rs 18,999 for the base 32GB variant and the Redmi Note 5 Pro costs Rs 16,999 for the top-end 6GB+64GB variant. This makes choosing the winner way more difficult as both have their own share of pros and cons.

Winner: iPhone SE

Conclusion:

Once we sum up the positives and negatives of both the Redmi Note 5 Pro and the iPhone SE, both of them turn out to be equally impressive. The Redmi Note 5 Pro proudly flaunts its good display, long-lasting battery and a decent camera, but the iPhone SE offers better value, superior performance and a superb build.

However, we have a subjective winner — it’s the iPhone SE. Why? Because an iPhone holds better value over an Android smartphone any given day, especially when you consider the fact that Apple’s two-year-old midrange offering can still battle it out with the best Android midrange smartphone from the present.

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