Xiaomi just finished launching their cheapest mobile in India. Priced at Rs. 5,999, the brand new Redmi 4A excels in value for money proposition. However, if you can spend another Rs. 1,000, you can get the Redmi 3S, which comes with considerably better specifications. Although, Rs. 1,000 difference may sound small for a smartphone, it is certainly not an ignorable amount for entry-level smartphone buyers.
So, we have put the Redmi 4A and the Redmi 3S side-by-side and tried to work out which is a better buy. Keep reading thoroughly as we categorically analyze and compare the different aspects of each of them.
Design and Build Quality
First, let’s start with design and build quality of both the smartphones. Frankly speaking, the Redmi 4A and the Redmi 3S look and feel quite similar. Both of them come with a metallic construction with plastic at the top and bottom. However, during our usage, we found the Redmi 3S to be slightly more sturdy and premium than the Redmi 4A.
Winner: Redmi 3S
Performance, Gaming, and Memory
The Snapdragon 425 inside the Redmi 4A is noticeably less powerful than the Snapdragon 430 of the Redmi 3S. This is quite evident considering the former is a quad core processor while the latter is an octa-core chip. However, both consist of Cortex A53 cores clocked at 1.4 GHz each, just that the Snapdragon 430 has eight of those and the Snapdragon 425 has got only four.
This means that the Redmi 3S has twice the processing power of the Redmi 4A. The performance gap may not be noticeable while running single thread applications but can mean a lot for multithread apps.
Another significant difference between the two chipsets is their GPUs. While the Snapdragon 430 boasts a 5th generation Adreno 505, the Snapdragon 425 comes with a 3rd generation Adreno 308. There is no doubt that the former is much more future proof than the latter. Thus, for gaming, you must choose the Redmi 3S.
Coming to the memory department, there is absolutely no difference. Both the Redmi 4A and the Redmi 3S sport 2 GB of LPDDR3 RAM and 16 GB of internal storage. The duo also supports micro SD cards.
Software-wise, both the smartphones run Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow with MIUI 8 on top of it.
Winner: Redmi 3S
Camera
The two smartphones come with identical camera specifications. They both have a 13 MP primary shooter and 5 MP selfie snapper. However, the rear camera of the Redmi 3S has an aperture size of f/2.0 while it is f/2.2 in the Redmi 4A. This technically means that the former will perform slightly better in low light conditions. However, we found out the cameras to be almost similar to one another. The back camera of the Redmi 3S is marginally better than its competitor, but the front 5 MP shooters are the same. So, the camera is not a deciding factor between the Redmi duo.
Winner: Tie
Battery
This is where the Redmi 3S is miles ahead of its competitor. The Redmi 4A’s 3120mAh cell is no match for the Redmi 3S’s 4100mAh battery. However, we can’t complain much about the Redmi 4A as it still has sufficient battery life to last more than a day of heavy usage.
Winner: Redmi 3S
Coverage
Xiaomi Redmi 4A FAQ, Pros & Cons, User Queries and Answers
Xiaomi Redmi 4A Hands On Overview, Specs And Price
Xiaomi Redmi 4A Launched in India at Rs.5,999 With 4G VoLTE
Xiaomi Redmi 4A Unboxing, Quick Review, Gaming, Battery and Benchmarks
Xiaomi Redmi 4A vs Xiaomi Redmi 3S Quick Comparison Review
Xiaomi Redmi 4A, 5 Reasons To Buy, 4 Reasons Not To Buy
Conclusion
Summing it all up, we can safely conclude that the Xiaomi Redmi 3S is a better device. Even though it is Rs. 1,000 dearer than the Redmi 4A, it has better value for money. If you are pondering about the display and connectivity, we have purposely kept them out of comparison. The 5-inch HD screens of the phones are virtually indistinguishable, and so are their connectivity features.
Another thing we have skipped is the higher variant of the Redmi 3S. The reason is pretty obvious. The phone is way too costly to be considered in the comparison.
So, for whom is the Redmi 4A for? Apparently, the phone is an excellent choice for its asking price. You can go for it if you want a quality Android smartphone within Rs. 6,000 and are not ready to pay anything extra. There may be one more reason to opt for the Redmi 4A. We all know how difficult it is to buy the Redmi 3S, so if the new device is more readily available, the why not settle with it instead?
