Xiaomi Redmi 4 review: Blue-plate special

Synthetic benchmarks

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 is powered by the Snapdragon 435 chipset, one of the more recent iterations in Qualcomm's super-popular 400 series. It's a rather classic setup found in many a midranger in terms of CPU configuration - eight Cortex-A53 cores, in this instance clocked at up to 1.4GHz.

Kicking things off with GeekBench, as usual, we observed a bit of an oddity - the octa-core Redmi 4 posts only marginally higher scores than the quad-core Redmi 4a in the multi-core portions of the benchmark. The 4 also lags behind the Moto G5, which packs the older S430 chip. There are no such discrepancies in older versions of GeekBench (3.7 and 4.0), so we can only speculate there's some sort of incompatibility between phone and benchmark.

GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  3611
• Oppo F3
  2798
• Moto G5
  2580
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  1819
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  1781
• Nokia 3
  1529
• Meizu M5c
  1285

GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  887
• Meizu M5c
  870
• Oppo F3
  764
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  677
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  670
• Moto G5
  618
• Nokia 3
  551

GeekBench 3 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  4997
• Sony Xperia XA1
  4539
• Oppo F3
  3101
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2931
• Meizu M5s
  2888
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2876
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  2774
• Meizu M5
  2713
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  2012
• Nokia 3
  1556
• Meizu M5c
  862

GeekBench 3 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  1025
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  938
• Oppo F3
  808
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  690
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  674
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  672
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  665
• Meizu M5
  660
• Meizu M5s
  623
• Nokia 3
  576
• Meizu M5c
  408

There's nothing alarming in Antutu, where the numbers are as you'd expect them to be. The Redmi 4 with its Snapdragon 435 chip posts nearly identical scores as the Snapdragon 430-equipped phones - after all the SoCs are very similar. A lot of the other phones here sport the Mediatek MT6750 chip, and that one can't keep up with the S435. There's a Redmi 4 on top of this chart - the Prime with its Snapdragon 625 is in a different league, one where the Xperia XA1 with its Helio P20 is a better match.

By the way, you can hover over the bars to see hardware info relevant to the respective benchmark - in case you missed this feature we introduced recently.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  62316
• Sony Xperia XA1
  60707
• Oppo F3
  53008
• Lenovo K6 Power
  44115
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  44089
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  43957
• Moto G5
  43755
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  43344
• vivo V5
  41702
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  40976
• Meizu M5
  40831
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  39439
• Meizu M5s
  39166
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  36110
• Meizu M5c
  29001
• Nokia 3
  28441

We don't have a number for the Redmi 4 Prime in Basemark OS II 2.0, but the Xperia XA1 is in the lead - thanks, P20. The Snapdragon 435s and 430 are tightly packed, yet the Redmi 4 is among the better ones. There are also the Lenovo K6 Power and Asus Zenfone 3 Max that make the S430 look bad here.

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  1351
• Oppo F3
  1085
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  882
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  832
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  830
• vivo V5
  821
• Moto G5
  795
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  794
• Meizu M5s
  781
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  707
• Nokia 3
  568
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  295
• Lenovo K6 Power
  281
• Meizu M5c
  182

Graphics oriented benchmarks show that the Adreno 505 isn't a powerhouse - what else is new? That said, the 720p display resolution helps here, and despite the lack of much raw power, the Redmi 4 puts out respectable fps numbers - for its class, that is.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  6.2
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  6.2
• Moto G5
  4.6
• Oppo F3
  4.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  4.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  4.5
• Lenovo K6 Power
  4.4
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  4.4
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  4.4
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  3.5
• Meizu M5
  3.4
• vivo V5
  3.4
• Meizu M5s
  2.9
• Meizu M5c
  1.4
• Nokia 3
  1.4

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  15
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  10
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  10
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  8.7
• Meizu M5
  7.9
• vivo V5
  7.8
• Meizu M5s
  6.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  6.1
• Moto G5
  4.6
• Oppo F3
  4.5
• Lenovo K6 Power
  4.4
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  4.4
• Meizu M5c
  3.2
• Nokia 3
  3.2

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  3.7
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4
• Moto G5
  2.5
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4
• Lenovo K6 Power
  2.4
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  2.4
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  2.3
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  2.3
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  1.9
• Meizu M5
  1.8
• vivo V5
  1.8

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia XA1
  7.9
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  5.1
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  4.9
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  4.8
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  4.3
• Meizu M5
  3.7
• vivo V5
  3.7
• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  3.4
• Moto G5
  2.5
• Oppo F3
  2.4
• Lenovo K6 Power
  2.4
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  2.4

Adreno 506 vs. Adreno 505 - what a difference 1 makes. Look at the Basemark X results where the 506 GPU of the Redmi 4 Prime significantly outperforms the 505 in the Redmi 4. The 4, on the other hand, beats all the S43x competition, if only just.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
  10424
• Sony Xperia XA1
  9714
• Xiaomi Redmi 4
  7608
• Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
  7604
• Asus ZenFone 3 Max ZC553KL
  7510
• Moto G5
  7475
• Lenovo K6 Power
  7475
• Xiaomi Redmi 3S
  7263
• Oppo F3
  6148
• vivo V5
  4996
• ASUS ZenFone 3S Max ZC521TL
  4991
• Meizu M5
  4767
• Meizu M5s
  4646
• Xiaomi Redmi 4a
  3335
• Meizu M5c
  2292
• Nokia 3
  2210

Overall, a predictable showing from the Redmi 4 in the benchmark run - not a record breaker, but a dependable all-round performer. If anything, it inches ahead of most similarly equipped competitors.

Audio output impresses

The Xiaomi Redmi 4 did very well with an active external amplifier, delivering above average loudness and perfectly clean output.

Quite impressively, and even more so for its price range, the smartphone had virtually no degradation with a pair of headphones. The only affected reading was stereo crosstalk and even there the difference was tiny. Volume remained above average too, making this a really solid showing by the Redmi 4.

Test	Frequency response	Noise level	Dynamic range	THD	IMD + Noise	Stereo crosstalk
Xiaomi Redmi 4	+0.06, -0.02	-94.3	90.8	0.0024	0.0089	-94.0
Xiaomi Redmi 4 (headphones)	+0.06, -0.04	-93.8	90.6	0.035	0.044	-79.5
Xiaomi Redmi 3s	+0.02, -0.07	-94.3	90.6	0.0024	0.0087	-91.8
Xiaomi Redmi 3s (headphones)	+0.02, -0.10	-93.7	90.3	0.028	0.061	-72.2
Nokia 3	+0.02, -0.11	-91.9	91.8	0.012	0.017	-91.8
Nokia 3 (headphones)	+0.88, -0.06	-78.7	77.6	0.039	0.348	-52.5
Sony Xperia L1	+0.10, -0.11	-93.6	92.9	0.0090	0.013	-93.8
Sony Xperia L1 (headphones)	+0.79, -0.10	-92.9	91.9	0.010	0.420	-53.1

Xiaomi Redmi 4 frequency response

You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.