Xiaomi Redmi A5 was released in the global markets last month, and surprisingly, it’s now quickly headed to Pakistan, crossing the finish line before mid-April. Ahead of its debut in the local market, you should get familiar with the phone’s spec sheet, so you can make a decision early whether to buy the Redmi A5 or skip the handset entirely.
Right off the bat, we warn our readers that this phone is not for power users, so consider yourselves cautioned. The handset on approach is built around a 6.88” IPS display with HD+ or 720p resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, which has now become a standard among budget mobiles. However, we were more impressed with the phone’s advertised 1500 nits HBM.
This is one of the brightest IPS panels we’ve seen in recent years. The phone has minor dust and water protection, though the company did not advertise an IP rating for it. The design is modern-looking, probably inspired by the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, especially with the pill-shaped camera design.
The hardware is underwhelming since it uses a 1.8GHz Unisoc T7250 (12 nm) SoC, but the Xiaomi budget new model gets around it with an Android 15 Go Edition HyperOS, which is essentially a stripped-down version of the original Hyper OS to support minimal hardware. There’s eMMC 5.1 storage, and the starter variant has only 4GB of RAM, so the Hyper OS 2 (Go Edition) makes sense.
Redmi doubles down on the update support this year, as it promised up to two major OS updates for this model, even though it’s strictly a budget handset. Sadly, the camera configuration is not as pleasing, which is the leading point of contention among the Redmi A5 reviews we’ve seen so far.
There’s only a solo 32 MP camera on the phone’s back and an 8 MP selfie unit on its front. Now, Redmi might use some software tricks to pump out some good-looking photos during the day, but there is only so much you can do with the sensor’s physical limitation. It will struggle with night photos or in low-light situations.
At least the Redmi A5 comes with a 5200mAh battery for a full-day run. The company says its battery has 1000 Charge cycles, which will help maintain the A5’s battery health over the years. Still, the charging backup is limited to 18W, which puts this device in a tricky position. If they priced it right, the Redmi A5 might be a hit among Pakistani consumers when it arrives in the local market before mid-April.
