Redmi K90 Ultra launched with Snapdragon 8 Elite, built-in cooling fan, and 165Hz gaming display

Xiaomi has officially introduced the Redmi K90 Ultra in China as the latest addition to its K-series lineup, which is said to be the direct successor to last year's Redmi K80 Ultra. While the build of the K90 Ultra remains identical to its predecessor, this phone brings a major upgrade to the dispaly, processors, and battery. Redmi tries to balance photography and performance, unlike many other flagship gaming phones on the market that focus solely on gaming features. In this article, I will discuss this new gaming phone in detail, including the expected Redmi K90 Ultra price in Nepal, specifications, and availability. 

Redmi K90 Ultra Overview

Performance and Software

Under the hood, the Redmi K90 Ultra opts for Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, built on TSMC's second-generation 3nm process—moving away from the MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ (3nm) chipset we saw in the K80 Ultra. Xiaomi further paired this flagship processor with an AI Gaming Dedicated Graphics chip D2 that could assist with frame interpolation, AI-powered image upscaling, and HDR enhancement in supported games. 

For better gaming performance, Xiaomi integrated its "Game Rage Engine," which manages CPU resources, storage, and overall system performance. The company also says that this will help reduce sudden frame drops during demanding gaming scenarios while also maintaining stable performance over longer sessions. 

Additionally, Xiaomi tested large-scale 3D Turn-Based mobile games on the K90 Ultra for nearly 1 hour in high graphics settings and achieved around 59.5 FPS, while for National MOBA games the phone maintained high image quality at near-full frame rate for 3 consecutive hours, even when the ambient temperature was 30 degrees Celsius.

Memory-wise, it comes with up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 internal storage. On the software front, K90 Ultra runs on Xiaomi HyperOS 3 on top of Android 16. 

Built-in Cooling fan 

Above all, Redmi K90 Ultra's major highlight should be its active cooling system, which makes it one of the fastest gaming smartphones on the market. It uses a physical cooling fan alongside a 6000 mm2 vapor chamber and larger graphite heat dissipation system, ensuring your phone delivers stable performance even during extended gameplay. On top of this, Xiaomi includes Quiet, Smart, and Powerful cooling modes in this phone that balance cooling performance and noise for different use cases. 

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Design and Display

In terms of design, Redmi K90 Ultra keeps things simple with a simple and clean look. On the back, it opts for a horizontally placed rectangular camera island with a matte finish that sports dual lenses and an LED Flash, instead of the circular island we saw in K80 Ultra. However, it is slightly on the heavy side, weighing 227 grams, while it maintains a thickness of 8.2mm like its predecessor. 

For ingress protection, this phone offers IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, while at the front you get Corning Gorilla 7i protection. Here, you also get the option to choose between “Shadow Black”, “Space Silver”, and “Sky Blue” finishes. 

Up front, the K90 Ultra comes with a 6.83-inch flat AMOLED display with 1.5K resolution, delivering sharp and crisp visuals. The screen also supports a refresh rate of up to 165Hz, which should give a pretty smooth experience while playing fast-paced games or watching fast-moving visuals on this phone.

K90 Ultra also supports 12-bit color depth, DCI-P3 color coverage, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HDR Vivid, which should deliver quite good visuals while playing high-graphics games. It also has a 3500-nit peak-brightness mode that should further help in delivering better HDR visuals on the screen. 

Camera and Battery

Although the Redmi K90 Ultra is primarily marketed as a gaming phone, Xiaomi has included a pretty decent camera setup that should deliver good everyday photography. It opts for the 50MP f/1.68 Light Hunter 800 main camera with OIS and is paired with an 8MP ultrawide sensor. Xiaomi said that you can comfortably capture 8K video at 30 fps and 4K video at 60 fps on this phone. In addition, it includes a 20MP front-facing camera for selfies and video calls. 

To support extended usage, this phone packs an 8550mAh battery, paired with 100W wired fast charging and 22.5W reverse wired charging. Xiaomi claims you can use this phone for more than a day, even while playing intense games for hours. And interestingly, Xiaomi is also shipping a 100W GaN charger in the box. In terms of audio, this phone comes with Xiaomi's all-new symmetrical stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos. 

Redmi K90 Ultra Specifications:

• Design & Build: 162.9 x 77.9 x 8.18 mm, 227g, IP66, IP68, IP69 rating
• Display: 6.83-inch AMOLED, 1.5K (1280×2772 pixels), 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 165Hz refresh rate, 3500 nits (peak), Dolby Vision
• Chipset: Snapdragon 8 Elite (3nm)
• Memory: Up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, up to 512GB UFS 4.1 storage (non-expandable)
• Software & UI: HyperOS 3 based on Android 16
• Rear Cameras: Dual (50MP main, 8MP ultrawide)
• Front Camera: 20MP sensor (hole-punch)
• Security: Fingerprint (In-display, Ultrasonic)
• Connectivity: GSM / HSPA / LTE / 5G (Nano-SIM +  Nano-SIM), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, GPS
• Sensors: Proximity sensor, compass, accelerometer, gyroscope
• Battery: 8,550mAh, 100W wired charging, 22.5W reverse wired charging (100W GaN charger in box)

Redmi K90 Ultra Price in Nepal and Availability

In China, the base 12/256GB model of the Redmi K90 Ultra is priced at CNY 2,999 (~$441, INR 41,899), while the high-end 16/512GB variant costs CNY 3,699 (~$544, INR 51,699). If this launches here, we expect the Redmi K90 Ultra price in Nepal to start at NPR 98,999.

• Meanwhile, you might like our review of the Xiaomi 17T (review).

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