Quite how Xiaomi has managed to retain such powerful specs at these prices, is worth a certain degree of admiration. This is particularly true as some of Xiaomi’s rivals, are increasing prices due to a mix of geopolitical uncertainty that’s dotted most of this year, and the resulting supply chain concerns. Never has a ‘Turbo’ phone directly been launched in India, with the 2024 Redmi Turbo 3 arriving as the Poco F6 while the Redmi Note 12 Turbo from 2023 remained a China exclusive for a while before arriving as the Poco F5. How times change, and this is a sign of a confident Xiaomi.
It is also a fact that this Redmi Turbo 5 looks far better than any other phone this side of ₹40,000—and that’s particularly true for the Turbo White colour way, with those gorgeous red inserts. Those things around the cameras, and the Redmi badging in red, add the sort of look car enthusiasts will particularly like—I’ve no specific reason for saying that, except this demographic tends to have a keen eye for sporty, fine details. The dual tone white, with subtle finish differences on the thinner vertical strip, do get attention. This is one phone with dual sided glass that you’d not want to cocoon in a case, unless it’s a transparent variety that is.
Xiaomi’s priced the Redmi Turbo 5 quite well, at ₹37,999 (8GB + 256GB) and ₹40,999 (12GB + 256GB). That means its up against a very impressive Motorola Edge 70 Pro, the OnePlus Nord 6, and if you are okay with dealing with ads even inside apps including the Calendar, then the Realme 16 Pro’s higher spec variants.
In case you’re wondering how the Redmi Turbo 5’s Mediatek Dimensity 8500 Ultra chip is different from the Motorola Edge 70 Pro’s Mediatek Dimensity 8500 Extreme, the differences aren’t to be found in process node or architecture or clock speeds, but the finer aspects which define that meld of hardware with the software. Xiaomi uses the Dimensity 8500 Ultra as a better tuning option for its performance methodology, with particular focus on frame stabilisation and rendering performance during some serious gaming. Motorola’s choice of the Extreme chip allows it to vary performance for the sake of longevity on every charge, and also hardware level support for its Pantone Validated camera.
As far as real-world performance goes, it’s too close to call. If you’re regularly gaming, then the Redmi Turbo 5 has a distinct advantage. Phones this side of the ₹40,000 price point often claim gaming capabilities, and some deliver to a large extent. Xiaomi’s optimisations with the Redmi Turbo 5, in my book, are the most comprehensive under-the-hood optimisations for better baseline performance for a longer time. And that’s really what matters. It isn’t to say there won’t be heating more than apparent at the back, but potential resulting performance and frame drops are less prominent on the Redmi Turbo 5 than any other phone in recent times. Clearly, the Advanced 3D IceLoop Cooling architecture (the name’s a mouthful) is doing the intended job.
A large battery, 7,540mAh in this case, is as long lasting as they come. As a regular phone with a mix of gaming, camera usage, and a whole lot of screen time reading, browsing or binging, this gets through to a day and a half with utmost ease. Remove video games from the equation, and you add another day to the runtime before the Redmi Turbo 5 needs to be plugged in again. At this point, the 100-watt charge, which is the fastest wired charging speed thus far on a Redmi series phone, does the splash and dash in fairly quick time. You do need to factor in some level of heating depending on ambient conditions, which will vary peak charge speeds.
The dual camera setup has a 50-megapixel Sony IMX882 wide sensor and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera. The strongest point of the primary camera, which takes advantage of optical image stabilisation as well as electronic image stabilisation, is its ability to replicate details in a frame. That’s a good foundation for any photograph top build with, but there will be times when the colours don’t feel vivid enough (it brings down a frame’s overall richness) and dynamic range doesn’t bring out the sense of shadows or the darker contrasts in a photo. Some of this can be further refined with future updates, but at this time, it has some way to go to match the Pantone certified brilliance of the Edge 70 Pro, comparatively. That said, it’s a notch better than the Nord 6.
Xiaomi, to their credit, has gotten the overall stack quite nicely locked in with the Redmi Turbo 5. And that makes for a rather impressive initiation for this product line in Xiaomi’s India portfolio. The 6.59-inch AMOLED display leaves little to complain about (120Hz, 12-bit screen and 3,500-nits peak brightness), the frame that’s aerospace grade metal alongside Corning Gorilla Glass 7i protective layering, support for Hi-Res Audio Wireless (you’ll be surprised how many top-tier phones also miss out on this) and the whole AI layering that stays out of the way for the most part, defines the experience.
For Xiaomi to manage the pricing that it has, with the specs that finally make for the Redmi Turbo 5, in this economy is no mean feat. I’d really recommend the Turbo White colour, though Nitro Blue does have its own visual aura, and the conventionally of Asphalt Black cannot really be written off. The competition is strong too, and by making the most powerful Redmi phone ever, Xiaomi has given the Redmi Turbo 5 all the tools it needs to fight for its share of the market.
