Xiaomi Mi A3 Vs Realme 5: Which one should you buy?

Xioami announced its Mi A3 Android One phone in India on Wednesday. The previous day Realme also launched its Realme 5 smartphone. Do you know what is common between these phones?  They pack the same chipset i.e. Snapdragon 665. Also, both the phones are priced almost similarly.

If we talk about other features, Mi A3 has ist own set of features at the starting price of Rs. 12,999 such as Gorilla Glass back, AI triple rear camera set up with a 48MP sensor, Super AMOLED display with an in-display fingerprint scanner and Google’s Android One program.

Realme 5, on the other hand, comes with a quad rear camera set up, big 6.5-inch display, new crystal design but with polycarbonate back panel, and a big 5,000mAh battery. Its price starts at just Rs. 9,999.

So if you are planning to buy a phone in the above-mentioned price brackets, you have these two options. Let us see how the latest two budget phones stand against each other.

Mi A3 Vs Realme 5 Specifications

Key Specs	Mi A3	Realme 5
Display	6.0-inch IPS	6.5-inch IPS
Screen Resolution	HD+, 720 x 1560 pixels	HD+, 720 x 1600 pixels
Operating System	Android 9 Pie with Android One	Android 9 Pie with ColorOS 6
Processor	Octa-core, Up to 2.0GHz	Octa-core, Up to 2.0Hz
Chipset	Snapdragon 665	Snapdragon 665
GPU	Adreno 610	Adreno 610
RAM	4GB/6GB	3GB/4GB
Internal Storage	64GB/128GB	32GB/64GB/128GB
Expandable Storage	Yes, Up to 256GB	Yes, Up to 256GB
Primary Camera	12 MP, f/1.8+8 MP, f/2.2,(ultrawide)+2 MP (macro camera)+2 MP depth sensor	48 MP, f/1.8 (wide)+8 MP ultrawide+2 MP depth sensor
Front Camera	32 MP, f/2.0	13 MP, f/2.0
Video Recording	Up to 4K@30fps	Up to 4K@30fps
Battery	4,030 mAh	5,000 mAh
Fast Charging Support	Yes, 18W	No
4G VoLTE	Yes	Yes
Dimensions	153.5 x 71.9 x 8.5 mm	164.4 x 75.6 x 9.3 mm
Sim Card Connectivity	Dual SIM	Dual SIM

Design: Glass back vs Plastic back

Let’s start with the design and build quality, both the phones look trendy and new with their shiny back panels. However, there is a lot of difference in terms of build quality. Xiaomi’s Mi A3 comes with a premium glass back with GG5 protection while Realme 5 comes with a polycarbonate body.

The Mi A3 comes in Blue, Grey and White colors and the white color looks the best. While Realme 5 comes in Blue and Purple colors that have a crystal cur pattern on the back that looks good, but not as premium as the glass back.

If we use Mi A3 and Realme 5 by one hand, we can use Mi A3 easily as it has less thickness and is also lighter than Realme 5.

There are few more different in terms of design including a fingerprint scanner. Mi A3 has an in-display sensor and Realme 5 has it on the back. Both phones have a splash-resistant body.

Overall, in terms of design and build quality Mi A3 looks and feels better because of the Gorilla Glass body and features like an in-display fingerprint scanner.

Display: Super AMOLED vs IPS LCD

Coming to the display, Mi A3 sports a Super AMOLED display which is plus point for it. Realme 5 has an IPS LCD display. Both the display panels have HD+ screen resolution.

Mi A3 is protected by Gorilla Glass 5 and Realme 5 is protected by Gorilla Glass 3+. Both the displays sport a small notch on the top. Overall, quality-wise, Mi A3’s screen looks better with rich colors and good visibility in bright daylight.

Rear Cameras: 48MP Triple vs Quad

Mi A3 sports a triple camera setup at the back with a 48MP main sensor which is Sony IMX586. It has an 8MP wide-angle camera and a 2MP depth sensor.

Realme 5 comes with a quad-camera set up that has a 12MP main sensor, an 8MP wide, a 2MP depth and an extra 2MP macro camera.

On papers, there is a lot of difference in both the phones’ camera. When you see the camera results, you can see the real difference as well.

Mi A3 offers good detailing as well as more natural colors while Realme 5 has little washed out colors with fewer details.

Here’s an example of portrait mode.

They both also have a dedicated night mode. Here you may find Realme’s picture better but it has fewer details.

You can see in all camera samples above, there is a difference in colors of the same subject. Also, when you zoom these you can see the difference in details as well.

Selfie Cameras: 32MP vs 13MP

The Mi A3 sports a 32MP selfie camera and Realme 5 has a 13MP camera at the front. The specs itself make the real difference in terms of selfie camera of these phones. You can see the difference in the below samples.

As you can see, Realme 5 makes skin tone whiter than Mi A3. Here again, Mi offers more natural colors and details. However, for social media enthusiasts these both phones will do a nice job of an uploadable selfie.

Software & UI: Android One Vs Custom UI

The Mi A3 is the phone by Xiaomi for Android lovers. It comes with the stock Android experience with the Android One program which means fast OS updates. Moreover, there is no bloatware and UI seems pretty clean like Google phones.

Realme 5, on the other hand, comes with the company’s custom ColorOS 6 on top. It is a heavily customized skin that brings some unwanted bloatware to the phone. So, if you prefer a clean Android experience, you might not like the ColorOS.

Hardware: Snapdragon 665 performs similarly on both?

Both phones pack the latest Snapdragon 665 processor which is based on the 11nm process. It is an upgraded version of Snapdragon 660 and features eight Kryo 260 CPUs which have been divided into four performance and four efficiency cores.

For graphics, it supports the Adreno 610 GPU which the company claims can deliver long-lasting gameplay. So we played PUBG Mobile on both and the results were no different. Both can run the game at smooth graphics without any lag or any other issue.

In terms of other performance, such as multitasking, both are also similar. However, Android One offering on Mi A3 makes its performance a little bit smooth.

Check out the AnTuTu benchmark scores of both phones that are also similar.

Battery: Big with fast charging vs bigger without fast charging

The Mi A3 comes with a 4,030mAh battery that has 18W fast charging support. This much size of the battery is fair enough for a day’s usage. Realme 5 comes with a bigger battery which is 5,000mAh. However, it doesn’t support fast charging technology.

Other Nitty Gritty

If we talk about other features, Mi A3 comes with Hybrid card slots which means you can either use two SIM cards or one SIM and a micro SD. Realme 5 comes with triple card slots.

In terms of ports, Mi A3 has a USB Type C port while Realme 5 has a micro USB port. Other connectivity features are mostly similar.

Wrapping Up

Coming to the conclusion, with the Mi A3 you get a better design, AMOLED display, glass build, stock Android and 48MP camera performance at a slightly higher price. While Realme 5 has one extra camera and a big battery at a lesser price. So, if you are ready to spend those extra bucks, Mi A3 could be a better deal for you.