Both, the Asus and Xiaomi smartphones come with some similar features such as Snapdragon 636 chipset, 18:9 display and dual rear camera. The Redmi Note 5 Pro price in India starts at Rs. 13,999 and now Asus which has launched its base variant at a slightly lesser price has made the budget price segment of smartphones even more competitive in India. Here, we are doing a quick comparison between the two budget devices – Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro to find out which one offers more value for money.

Zenfone Max Pro M1 Vs Redmi Note 5 Pro Specifications

Physical Overview

Starting with the design first, Asus has adopted a metal body design for its latest budget phone. The metal unibody design comes with antenna bands running at top and bottom. The device is well designed and gets itself a place among other phones in this segment. 4GB/64GB- Rs. 12,999 6GB/64GB- Rs. 14,999 6GB/64GB- Rs. 16,999 The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro sports a similar design and comes with a glass front and metallic back which is common for a budget device nowadays. Moreover, the phone is sleek and lightweight which makes it easier to hold in one hand despite the big screen. So, overall both the phones look almost similar in terms of design language.

Display

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 comes with a 6-inch FHD+ display with screen resolution of 1080×2160 pixels. The display comes with very thin bezels on each side because of it’s 18:9 aspect ratio. The display of Zenfone Max Pro M1 offers good sharpness and brightness levels. The Redmi Note 5 Pro also features a similar 5.99-inch full HD+ display with a resolution of 1080×2160 pixels and 18:9 aspect ratio. The display of Redmi Note 5 Pro is also good and is offers good viewing angles in all conditions. When we compare the two, both the Zenfone Max Pro M1 Redmi Note 5 displays look similar.

Cameras

Coming to the cameras which are the highlight of the Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1, the phone sports a combination of either 13MP+5MP or 16MP+5MP sensors at the back. The rear camera gets features like LED flash, and PDAF. The camera clicks good pictures in all lighting conditions. Up front, there is an 8MP/16MP camera which also has a portrait mode.

Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 Camera Samples

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro also comes with a dual rear camera setup that includes a 12MP primary sensor along with a 5MP secondary sensor for depth effects. The rear camera comes with PDAF and LED flash for improved focusing and low-light performance. The Redmi Note 5 Pro camera also clicks decent pictures in all lighting conditions with bokeh effect.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro Camera Samples

Up front, the Redmi Note 5 Pro features a 20MP Sony IMX 376 sensor with LED selfie light and Beautify 4.0. It can also record 1080p videos at 30fps. The front camera also performs well. Overall, Redmi Note 5 Pro has an upper hand because of its good selfie camera.

Hardware, Storage, and Performance

The Asus Zenfone Max Pro M1 comes with an Octa-core Snapdragon 636 chipset with Adreno 509 GPU. The phone comes in three storage variants- 3GB/4GB/6GB with 32GB or 64GB storage options. The storage is expandable up to 256GB via a dedicated microSD card slot. Next, the Redmi Note 5 Pro also comes with similar Snapdragon 636 octa-core processor with Adreno 509 GPU. The phone comes with two RAM options- 4GB or 6GB. It has only 64GB storage option which is also expandable. The octa-core processor clocked at 1.8 GHz with at least 4GB RAM is sufficient enough for moderate to high usage. So, if we see hardware section, both the phones again seem to offer a similar performance.

Software and battery

When it comes to software, Xiaomi is a little bit late in providing the latest Android OS. The Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with Android 7.1 Nougat with Xiaomi’s MIUI 9.0 skin on top. While Zenfone Max Pro M1 runs the latest Android Oreo out of the box without any bloatware. Talking about the battery, the Zenfone Max Pro M1 comes with a massive 5,000mAh battery while Redmi Note 5 Pro also packs a big 4,000mAh battery. So, Zenfone Max Pro can easily offer more battery life. Coming to the UI, Zenfone with its stock Android offers a better experience while Redmi Note 5 Pro comes with MIUI which some users may find annoying.

Verdict

Coming to the conclusion, both the Zenfone Max Pro M1 and Redmi Note 5 are latest phones and they come loaded with some latest features. In terms of design, display, camera, and hardware, both the phones offer almost similar experience. However, camera wise Redmi Note 5 can beat Zenfone with a better camera at the front. When it comes to the software experience, Zenfone Max Pro M1 is offering a better stock Android experience with the latest OS. So, if we consider all these facts, price and availability of both the phones, Zenfone Max Pro M1 looks like a better option.