The fundamental difference comes in terms of specifications and the number of variants which are being offered in the Chinese version as compared to the Indian version. The Chinese Redmi Note 5 comes in three options – 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage and lastly 6GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. It might be a little disappointing to see that Xiaomi has not offered the low range phone of this series the 3GB version in India.
One more area where these Chinese and Indian models of the phone differ is the 4G standby. The Chinese model allows the phone to have the 4G standby on both the SIMs thus meaning that users can use VoLTE on both the SIMs simultaneously. The Indian variant, Redmi Note 5 Pro only allows the phone to use VoLTE in just one SIM at a time.
A big difference is seen when we compare the cameras of the Chinese and Indian version of the phones. Xiaomi did not the change the secondary depth sensor which still remains at 5MP, but the primary sensor is better on the Chinese variant.
The primary camera although has the same 12MP setup but comes with a f/1.9 aperture in the Chinese variant as compared to the f/2.2 aperture on the Indian one. Also, a slight increase in the pixel size is seen in the Chinese Redmi Note 5 with the image rendering at 1.4-micron pixels whereas the pixel size on the Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro stays at 1.25 microns.
This difference is going to mean that the Chinese version will deliver better low-light performance.
Speaking about the front camera, the Chinese version takes a blow as the front camera on the Redmi Note 5 is only 13MP while that on the Indian Redmi Note 5 Pro is of 20MP. However, to make up for this, the Chinese version is equipped with a lot of AI-based enhancements and effects which are software based. However, all these features might make into the Indian version with a software update.