Redmi K30 Ultra: New edition of the Poco F2 Pro with 120 Hz display

Xiaomi did not miss out during the 10th anniversary celebration and presented not only the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra but also a new edition of the Redmi K30 Pro. The Chinese equivalent of the Poco F2 Pro is released as Redmi K30 Ultra with 120 Hz refresh rate – at a top price!

Borderless design with 120 Hz display

If you have ever seen the Redmi K30 Pro or the Poco F2 Pro, you will hardly be able to distinguish the K30 Ultra from them. You’ll once again rely on an uninterrupted 6.67 inch AMOLED display with a maximum brightness of 1200 nit. However, Xiaomi now doubles the refresh rate from 60 Hz to 120 Hz, just like the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra. This makes animations and the general operation of the Redmi K30 Ultra simply much more fluid! The fact that the display is uninterrupted is due to the pop-up camera, which Xiaomi has integrated here again. The mechanically extendable front camera only comes out of the housing when it is needed. This design has enjoyed great popularity since the Xiaomi Mi 9T Pro.

At the back side, one gets the same layout as in the Redmi K30 Pro, including a round camera module and a square camera arrangement. Therefore, there is a set of new colorways that are a little more discreet in color. Especially the black colorway is really new, in addition there is a white version and a grey-green edition, which we like optically. Xiaomi continues to rely on Gorilla glass and also reintegrates the 360° light sensor, which is supposed to provide improved automatic brightness.

MediaTek instead of Qualcomm – a new dimension?

Inside, there’s the next important difference besides the 120 Hz display. Instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor, the new MediaTek Dimensity 1000+ processor is used, which not only offers a 2.6 GHz clock frequency, but also provides support with WiFi 6 and 5G. The Dimensity series from MediaTek has already been integrated by Xiaomi in the Redmi Note 10 in China for the first time, with the Dimensity 1000+ the flagship processor of the series has now been integrated. The graphics unit is the Mali G77 GPU with 9 cores. In China there is a choice of 6/128 GB, 8/128 GB, 8/256 GB or 8/512 GB memory. The type of memory was not specified.

The camera setup is the same as for the Poco F2 Pro. The 64 megapixel main camera comes from Sony and goes by the name of IMX686, plus a 13 megapixel ultra-wide angle camera, a 2 MP portrait camera and the 5 megapixel tele-macro camera, which we found surprisingly good in the test for the Poco F2 Pro. The pop-up camera on the front still resolves with 20 megapixels.

As in the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra, Xiaomi uses a 4,500 mAh battery, which can be quickly charged with up to 33W. The matching charger is included in the scope of delivery, but wireless charging is unfortunately not possible. The equipment also reads like the Poco F2 Pro: NFC, Dual SIM, 5G support, Dual-GPS, WiFi 6 and of course MIUI 12 based on Android 11. It’s surprising, though, that you’ve even integrated a stereo speaker!

Evaluation

The Redmi K30 Ultra is a so-called soft upgrade, we already know the majority of the mobile phone in the form of the Redmi K30 Pro and/or Poco F2 Pro. However, the small changes are decisive, whereby especially the 120 Hz display is a noticeable improvement. With the new MediaTek chip you can also lower the price, in China the Redmi K30 Ultra costs no less than 1999 Yuan, which is the equivalent of $288! If you need more memory, you have to pay a little bit more. If and when the Redmi K30 Ultra will come to us, we don’t know yet. Because of the Poco F2 Pro, we at China-Gadgets don’t really expect a release in Europe, at most under the Poco brand.