Redmi K80 Impressions: This Phone Means Business

Xiaomi’s sub-brand, Redmi recently underwent a rebranding with the letters in all caps. The reason behind it was to expand the REDMI product lineup to compete with brands that dominate the e-commerce sector. Their K series will be the first product to emphasize this change. I was fortunate enough to get my hands on their newly released Redmi K80 for a couple of days, and in this read, we’ll find out whether this device is a promising start or the same old tricks in a new package.

Redmi K80: Specifications

I have mentioned the detailed specifications of the Redmi K80 for you before we dive into the hands-on experience.

Redmi K80: Box Contents

In the box, you’ll get the device, a black silicone case, a SIM ejector tool, paperwork, a 90W charging brick, and a USB A-C cable for charging.

Am I Experiencing Deja Vu?

At first glance, the phone bears a close resemblance to the Xiaomi 14 Civi with its dual pattern glass back, circular camera bump, and flat aluminum sides. The lower half has a marble-like finish while the top is of solid color, which weirdly looks like the land and sea coming together. Meanwhile, I and my colleagues agreed that the camera placement looked like the Sharingan from Naruto.

As for the placements, you will find the power and volume buttons on the right, nothing at the top and the left, and the USB-C port, dual SIM slot, and a single mic at the bottom. The sides are made of aluminum, and there’s an IP68 rating too. The K series rarely enjoyed the design charms of more expensive devices. But this time, it seems Redmi went back to the drawing board.

The in-hand feel of the phone is comfortable even with flat sides. That’s because it is just 8.1mm thick and weighs only 206 grams. I usually carry two devices with me, and it annoys me when one phone weighs too much. Thankfully, the weight is handled well, leaving no major issues to report.

So if the build and design have received a premium treatment, surely the display must have suffered right? Nope! The K80 features an exquisite 6.67-inch 2K LTPS OLED display, with 12-bit colors, and a 120Hz refresh rate. Yes, they upped the resolution to 2k which is 3200×1440 offering 526 ppi density. This is a very high-resolution panel the likes of which we only get to see on flagship devices.

Whatever you decide to watch on it looks beautiful. The flat panel protects any accidental touches and the Gorilla Glass 7i does the same against scratches. I have no complaints about the brightness, I wish I could have more time with it to test it out on the sunny winter mornings of Delhi. On paper, it goes up to 1800 nits with HBM mode and 3200 nits is the peak. It also features an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor as opposed to the typical optical one.

If the display weren’t enough to impress you then I am sure the haptics will. I don’t know what kind of sorcery has been done here, but every feedback feels oh-so-satisfying. It’s crisp where it needs to be, and gentle in other places. You feel every click, similar to what I experienced with the OnePlus 12 and the more expensive Oppo Find X8 Pro (Impressions).

The sound is also pretty good for the price. It has a dual stereo speaker setup with the bottom-firing speaker doing most of the work. The earpiece can only push too much, but it gets adequately loud. It also comes with Dolby Atmos support.

There’s No Slowing It Down

Xiaomi always bundles the best specifications in the K series smartphone. So it is no surprise that the Redmi K80 features Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Our variant features 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM. But the phone also comes in lower variants starting from 12+256. True to its name, the 8 Gen 3, gets hot like a fire-breathing dragon. So to tame this beast, Redmi packed a dual-loop 3D ice heat dissipation system.

Just check out the CPU throttling test where the Redmi K80 remained cool as a cucumber and stayed in the green. The phone stayed around 37 degrees throughout benchmarks and it only reached 40s when I pushed it to a 60-minute throttling test. Now that is a benchmark hard to reach. I ran all the other benchmark tests and you can take a look at the scores.

Also, I dabbled in some gaming in my limited time, starting with Genshin Impact. I was playing on the highest setting at 60 FPS and the phone performed as expected. Call it a smooth criminal because it showed no hiccups or stutters throughout my 30-minute gameplay.

Then I hopped on to the unoptimized mess that is Warzone Mobile. Even with the game’s several issues, I managed to get a 60FPS with Peak graphic settings. Offering almost a console-like experience on the device. Finally ending my brief fun session with COD Mobile. I played it at Smooth + Ultra settings and of course, the phone handled it with ease sticking tight to that 120FPS.

Aside from benchmarks and games, the general UX was also a breeze. The Redmi K80 comes with the latest HyperOS 2.0 based on Android 15. Xiaomi has done excellent craftsmanship with animations. Simple things like pulling down the control center feel like dragging my finger in a stream of water. Apart from that, it is much of the same HyperOS that we have seen before.

There are some interesting AI features onboard, like AI Writing, Dynamic Wallpapers, Speech Recognition, and real-time translation features. I took them for a spin, and they seem to work fine except for the AI wallpapers. Given this is a Chinese unit, I would prefer to reserve my complete analysis for the global release of these features.

The K80 includes a massive 6550 mAh capacity battery. While I couldn’t get concrete results, but phone only lost about 20% during my hour-and-a-half-long gaming escapade which is excellent. Even after using the phone for a day, the phone had 40% juice left. With the 90-watt charger packed in the box, you can top up its huge tank from 0 to 100 in 35 minutes.

So Close to Greatness

So far the Redmi K80 seems nothing short of a flagship device. But there’s always an Achilles heal and for this phone, it’s the cameras. It features a 50MP Light Hunter 800 sensor with a f/1.6 aperture and OIS. This primary shooter is bundled with an 8MP ultrawide at the back. The front cutout houses a 20MP shooter. Without taking much time, let’s just jump straight to samples.

The Redmi K80 does a great job in daylight conditions. It captures photos with a good amount of detail. Whether it is landscape or shots of your friends, the overall daylight experience is good. I noticed a slight yellowish tint in some images but it is far from a deal-breaker. The ultra wide samples are nice as well, but it’s not going to win any awards.

The nighttime photos also turned out well. However, the night mode takes a few seconds to capture the image. So after the post-processing, you might end up with some unintentional long exposure clicks. The details, also take a hit, and light sources have an odd hue around them which I feel could be fixed with an update.

Selfies are decent. The 20MP camera takes serviceable photos that will look okay on your Instagram feed. But they tend to soften the subject a bit, which I am not a fan of. Portrait mode also works as intended and the edge detection software is a hit most of the time.

Coming to videos, the phone can capture up to 8K 24FPS from the primary lens, as well as 4K 60/3o. It can do 1080p 60FPS from the front camera and if you wish to switch between lenses, then I suggest you stick to 1080p 30FPS. I wish I could test out the camera further but from the initial testing, these are the results I achieved with it.

Redmi K80 Verdict: It’s Not Even Fair Anymore

Flagship killer is a category where most of the focus is on the performance while everything else is an afterthought. But this time, Redmi has truly delivered a device that can almost go toe to toe with any top-of-the-line offering from other manufacturers. From its gorgeous 2K display to tactile haptics and of course the performance.

Yes, the optics do take a hit, but some areas have to suffer from cost-cutting. This device could most likely come out as the POCO F7 globally and I really hope it bears all the same charms. Especially the design. The Redmi K80 is released in China with a starting price of 2,499 CNY (~ $345). For that price, you are getting a respectable device that outclasses many other flagship phones.