Xiaomi 4 Prime Vs Redmi Note 4: 5 Reasons Why This Is War

It's time to do a duel between two of Xiaomi's most popular "Note" devices – the Note 4 and the Note 3 – and toss in the new Xiaomi 4 Prime for good measure. This battle will be based on specifications, only – we'll have to get the whole collection in our hands at once before we're able to do any face-to-face comparisons. For now we'll go ahead and assume that more advanced processors mean bigger power and that all three devices are equally reliable.

Why would a person be choosing between the Xiaomi 4 Prime and the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4? Because they want to see whether they want the very latest in Xiaomi hardware OR if they want a slightly larger device. This is very much like the decision consumers make every year between a new Samsung Galaxy S device or a Samsung Galaxy Note. They're extremely similar in many ways – but in the end, there can be only ONE.

With the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3, the company began to bring an extremely fine display to the public at 1080 x 1920 across 5.5-inches of panel. Fast forward to the Note 4 and Xiaomi released a panel that seemed to be identical to its predecessor – 5.5-inches, 1080p, and even the same screen-to-body ratio at around 72.7%. With the Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime, the same IPS LCD display technology is used, but 1920 x 1080 is jammed into a slightly smaller panel at 5-inches instead of 5.5. Because of this, the display is significantly more dense and sharp.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was released with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, but was soon upgradeable to version 6.0.1 Marshmallow. The Note 4 was released with Android 6.0 and upgradeable to 6.0.1 Marshmallow as well. And wouldn't you know it, the Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime was prepped to be released with Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow as well. We're crossing our fingers for the ability to continue on well into the future – for now, these devices are on equal ground for Android software.

Back when the Redmi Note 3 was released, a Qualcomm MSM8956 Snapdragon 650 was a pretty sweet proposition for a midrange phone. That SoC contains a Hexa-core (4x1.4 GHz Cortex-A53 & 2x1.8 GHz Cortex-A72) CPU and Adreno 510, and the phone has either 2GB of RAM or 3GB of RAM, depending on the model. It's difficult to compare this to the Redmi Note 4 since Xiaomi went with a Mediatek MT6797 Helio X20 SoC, with Deca-core 2.1 GHz CPU and Mali-T880 MP4 GPU (and 2 or 3GB of RAM once again).

The Redmi 4 Prime brings the Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 – which, at first glance, might be underpowered compared to the 650 given to the Note 3. But with a smaller display, this processor is going to do JUST fine, especially with 3GB of RAM coming standard. Inside the Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 is Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 of CPU and a Adreno 506 GPU.

Xiaomi seems to be all about that microSD card slot – thankfully – far more than the past couple of generations of high-end phones here in the USA. The Note 3 has two versions, one with 16GB of internal storage and one with 32GB internal, both with a microSD card slot (which uses the SIM2 slot) for up to 256GB additional storage. The Note 4 uses a very similar strategy with a microSD card slot taking up the SIM2 slot for 256GB extra potential storage.

The Note 4 also has two versions, one of which has 16GB internal storage, the other an upgraded 64GB – this is also the version that has 3GB RAM instead of 2. The Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime has but one option, that is 32GB of internal storage (with 3GB RAM) and a microSD card slot. This microSD card slot also uses the SIM2 slot and can store up to 256GB of additional data.

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 was released back in February of 2016. This phone was (and generally is) around Rs. 9,999, which converts to approximately $145 USD. Good luck finding this one for sale – and if you do, make sure it's a model that can use a SIM card in your country. The Redmi Note 4 is much more readily available, coming for anywhere between $165 and $250 USD.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime will be priced at around Rs. 8,900, which converts to approximately $130 USD. Imagine if we had devices that cost this much released inside the USA? Cross your fingers and hope against hope – Xiaomi might be coming to our borders... at some point.