Although several months after the launch of the Redmi K40 Pro + (Chinese exclusive), the famous photo benchmarking site, DxOMark, has just released two reviews for the device: one for photos and one for audio.
Redmi K40 Pro + reviewed by DxOMark: bad in photos and audio
Let's start with the one in our opinion the most important, that is the one concerning the photographic sector. Here the Redmi K40 Pro + obtained an average score of 108 points, divided into 113 points for photos, 42 for zoom and 102 for videos.
Summing up the review, the Redmi K40 Pro + performs well in favorable lighting conditions and lags slightly behind premium devices like the Samsung S21 + 5G in many photo categories.
Notably the score is based on accurate white balance with pleasing skin tones, good detail and low noise in well-balanced indoor or outdoor lighting. However, it is less adept at HDR or low-light scenes, and the limited depth of field affects the sharpness of the subject.
As for the zoom, the smartphone achieves a generally accurate subject exposure, but the level of detail is low and there is some noise. The K40 Pro +'s tele-macro camera offers the best close-range performance in good light, but even here, details are pretty low in most zoom ranges.
Finally, we have the video part, excellent as it places it in second place for high-end smartphones, just behind the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G. In cases of good and well-balanced lighting, the K40 Pro + captures precise target exposure, pleasing colors and a good level of detail in videos. That said, dynamic range seems limited, so you will see clipping in most conditions and autofocus instability in low light.
Moving on to the audio review, here the Redmi K40 Pro + scored an average of 66 points, including 65 for playback and 70 for recordings.
In playback tests, the smartphone performed well for both maximum and minimum volume. Its stereo speakers produce an appreciable amount of amplitude when held in landscape mode. While the flaws include inconsistent tonal balance, a lack of bass and treble extension, and the upper midrange was too prominent.
The K40 Pro + did a lot better as a recording device. It provided first-rate tonal performance in most use cases and was also excellent at capturing the spatial aspect of selfie and non-selfie video recording.
In general, for both reviews, these are not very positive scores since for example the predecessor Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition had scored 120 points for the photos. While the audio score of 66 is average if not below. Not what is expected from a flagship, even if cheap.
What a shameful title, does Xiaomi not drop you money?
Sorry but how would you rate a high-end smartphone that gets medium-low ranking results?
Add to this that the predecessor, the Redmi K30 Pro Zoom Edition, had scored 120 points.
The point is that if you go to buy a redmi k40 pro, you buy it for the presentation it is for the good quality / price ratio, of course xiaomi has saved in the camera department on this mobile but if you want a mobile to take pictures go to buy a full price flagship, such as the mi 11, oneplus 9, iPhone 12 or galaxy s21. Despite that, 113 is not a bad score, for everyday use the redmi k40 pro offers a good camera, if you are not a photographer and you use the camera every time.
Look, I am among those who would buy the Redmi K40 Pro + precisely for performance and because for me the camera is not a priority.
That said, 108 is a very low score especially compared to its predecessor.
I also point out that this is the "+" version that costs more, theoretically because it is better in the photos.
You buy it for performance *