Xiaomi kicks off the Redmi K50 series in China, starting off with the Gaming Edition. While it shares a similar design as last year’s K40 Gaming Edition, the K50 Gaming Edition gets a few upgrades and is the first phone under Xiaomi’s partnership with Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One.
Redmi K50 Gaming Edition Specs:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor
- 8GB/12GB LPDDR5 RAM
- 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1 storage
- 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display, 120hz refresh rate, 480hz touch sampling rate, support for HDR10+ and DCI-P3, 10-bit color
- 64-megapixel f/2.0 IMX 686 main camera with PDAF, 2-megapixel f/2.4 macro camera, 8-megapixel f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera
- 20-megapixel IMX 596 selfie camera
- 4G, 5G
- WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, NFC, side-mounted fingerprint scanner
- IP53 rating, JBL-tuned stereo speakers, physical shoulder triggers
- 4700mAh battery
- 120w fast charging
- Android 12, MIUI 13
Going through the upgrade, the K50 Gaming Edition swaps its predecessor’s Dimensity 1200 processor for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This required Xiaomi to develop a new dual vapor chamber cooling system to keep thermals stable. The cooling system consists of a copper radiator, dual graphite sheets, and materials made from stainless steel and mesh.
The battery of the K50 Gaming Edition is smaller at 4700mAh, but touts a fast 120w wired charging solution that Xiaomi claims can fully charge a phone in 17 minutes. It even showcased that it can charge fast while playing a MOBA game–despite having a game working in the background, the Redmi K50 just took 37 minutes to achieve a full charge.
The Redmi K50 Gaming Edition is priced at CNY 3299(~Php 26.8k) for the 8GB/128GB variant, CNY 3599(~Php 29.2k) for the 12GB/128GB variant, and CNY 3899(~Php 31.6k) for the 12GB/256GGB variant. The limited Mercedes AMG F1 version is priced at CNY 4199(~Php 34.1k) for the 12GB/256GB variant. It will be available in China on Feb 18, though global availability is not available as of press time.