Redmi Note 7 Camera: Is all that hype for naught?

redmi note 7 camera
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Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 7, the Chinese companies latest announcement has already managed to stir the market quite a bit. Especially, because of the camera hardware it’s packing. And more so, because how it manages to take pictures through its 48 MP camera with Snapdragon 660 processor on the board. using Pixel Binning. And with so many initial impressions going around, there is a lot of hype with the Redmi Note 7.

But is the Redmi Note 7 really all that better? How much of an upgrade is it over the Redmi Note 5 AI or the Redmi Note 6 Pro? Well, in terms of specs and internals it could be. After all, the Redmi Note 7 has a much more powerful Snapdragon 660 compared to Snapdragon 636 on the Redmi Note 5 AI and the Redmi Note 6 Pro. Also, the Redmi Note 7 features a larger screen with more screen-to-body aspect ratio. Other things, however, remain the same with 3 / 4 and 6 GB RAM options, and that 4000 mAh battery. So, it is all down to the camera.

The selfie camera is the same 13 MP camera on both Redmi Note 5 AI and Redmi Note 7. There are dual selfie cameras on the Redmi Note 6, but since the rear camera of the Redmi Note 6 Pro and Redmi Note 5 AI are the same, let’s consider it as one. Let’s go with the Redmi Note 5 AI. And compared to that, the camera on the Note 7 looks like a huge upgrade. But is it really?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcpCPLmkwd8

The Redmi Note 7 packs a large 48 MP primary sensor at the back, with the Redmi Note 5 AI keeping a regular 12 MP lens. But since the Snapdragon 660 chipset cannot process images from a 48 MP hardware, it uses pixel binning to capture a 12 MP picture from the large sensor. While the resolution is the same, the technology on Redmi Note 7 should help in low-light photos considerably. And it’s not wrong for anyone to think the Redmi Note 7 camera is much better. But turns out…not so much!

A video by TechTablets.com comparing the cameras of the Redmi Note 5 AI and Redmi Note 7 shows that the Note 7 has not got many advantages over the Note 5. In fact, it’s the Note 5 AI that’s clearly the winner between the two, i.e. in terms of camera. The Redmi Note 7 wins in three aspects: Low-light (given that it uses pixel binning, no surprises), better details in shadows and better front camera.

Video Credits: TechTablets.com

And even in this, the Note 7 wins very slightly over the Note 5 AI. It provides slightly better details in low-light and has a better focus on the front camera. But on many other aspects, the Note 5 AI wins. It has better color accuracy – producing colors that are closer to the real thing, better auto-focus, better exposure and another advantage with its LED flash for the front camera. The Note 7’s auto-focus has issues and tends to keep “breathing” before it can actually focus on a subject. Also, pictures in the sunlight tend to come out a bit cooler than they really are. And colors have slightly less temperature.

In addition, in terms of video recording…while the image stabilization on both are on par, the Note 7’s audio recording is not as good as on the Redmi Note 5 AI. So, with a score of 5-3, the Redmi Note 5 AI is the clear winner.

Of course, this is someone else’s perception, but the examples are there for all of us to see. We can only know if all that is really true when we get our hands on the product ourselves. And that might take some time. But until then, I would not be hyped about the Redmi Note 7 for now. And so, if you have a Redmi Note 5 AI right now, and it is performing good enough, there is no need to switch for now.