The Xiaomi brand has been steadily gaining traction in the budget and middle-range market for smartphones in Kenya over the past few years, mainly because of their sleek designs and their uncanny ability to manufacture high performing phones while simultaneously keeping the prices affordable.
This trend looks set to continue this year with the accidental release of the Redmi 10 on 13th August by Xiaomi’s official website, Mi.com.
Xiaomi accidentally posted a blog laying out the specs, colours and various configurations of the rumoured Redmi 10 which is expected to be officially released later this year. Not to be confused with the Redmi Note 10, the Redmi 10 follows up on the Redmi 9 released back in August 2020 and should offer significant performance improvements.
The various redmi 10 configurations
The Redmi 10 is expected to be available in three RAM plus storage configurations, namely;
- 4 GB + 64 GB
- 4 GB + 128 GB
- 6 GB + 128 GB
It will be interesting to see whether all these configurations will be available for the Kenyan market, as some manufacturers normally only avail the lower-spec versions to our shores, probably in a bid to keep the prices low.
The colours available for the Redmi 10 are Carbon Grey, Pebble White and Sea Blue. It is important to note that the colour you pick will determine what kind of finishing your phone has, with carbon grey colour having a matte finish, Pebble White having a smooth finish while the Sea Blue colour will have a glossy finish.
Redmi 10 specifications
As expected, the Redmi UI will run MIUI 12.5, the latest version of Xiaomi’s own user interface on top of Android 11, and feature a 90Hz dot display (Full HD+ at 1080×2400 pixels) topping out at 6.5 inches. It is expected to be powered by the octa-core MediaTek Helio G88 chipset.
The rear camera will also get a massive boost, sitting pretty at 50 megapixels for the primary sensor, 8 megapixels for ultra-wide shots, 2 megapixels for macro and another 2 megapixels for depth sensors.
Surprisingly, the front camera is expected to be only 8 megapixels, which I find to be extremely lacking, however, we will have to wait to see how it performs in real-life situations before passing any judgement.
Fast charging which is now becoming a staple in new phones will be available and rated at 18W, while reverse charging support though present will only be able to handle 9W. The battery at 5,000mAh should comfortably push to two days of normal usage before needing another charge.
A fingerprint sensor, which will be side-mounted, is also confirmed to be available. The Redmi 10 dimensions are 161.95×75.53×8.92mm and the device will weigh in at 181 grams.
Pricing
The price of the Redmi 10 was however not leaked, which is a shame, but I am not really complaining given the wealth of information we already have regarding the device. One thing for sure though, is that it will be competitively priced in Kenya.
The Redmi 10 Prime which is still basically the Redmi 10 but targeting the Indian market has also been rumoured but the leak from the official Xiaomi website has no mention of it.
