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
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.
