Redmi 8 with 5,000mAh Battery Launches in Malaysia from RM499; Redmi 8A Coming Soon?

The affordable Redmi 8 was officially unveiled in India only a couple of days ago. If you’re interested to get the new device, good news: the device has just been launched in Malaysia. On top of that, there’s a good chance the even more affordable Redmi 8A will be coming to our market too.

We got confirmation that the Redmi 8 series will be made available in Malaysia back at the local launch of the Redmi Note 8 smartphones. However, only the arrival of the Redmi 8 have been announced today; there’s still no word yet on the local availability of the Redmi 8A.

Then again, given that both the Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A have been registered with our local certification body, SIRIM, it may only be a matter of time before the latter comes to Malaysia.

Out of the two smartphones, the Redmi 8 is the higher-end offering. One of its best selling points is the large 5,000mAh battery, which should be able to offer very, very good battery life. If you’re not a heavy smartphone user, it would be possible to get up to two days of use with this phone.

Even though it’s an affordable smartphone, it’s great to see that the Redmi 8 comes with a USB-C port. In comparison, its predecessor only had a microUSB connection. The phone supports 18W fast charging too, but the phone is only bundled with a 10W charger.

Powering the Redmi 8 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 439 2.0GHz octa-core chipset paired with either 3GB or 4GB of RAM. It’s not an awfully powerful SoC, but it should be fast enough for everyday use. Just don’t expect the same level of performance as a Snapdragon 6 series chipset.

It is an affordable smartphone, so the Redmi 8’s display….isn’t particularly impressive. It’s a 6.22-inch 1520 x 720 IPS panel with a Dot Drop notch at the top of the screen. With a maximum brightness of 400 nits, the screen is also protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Rounding out the specifications of the Redmi 8 are 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot that can accommodate cards up to 512GB, a dual camera system (12MP primary + 2MP depth), an 8MP front-facing shooter, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Although its Malaysian availability have not been confirmed yet, it’s worth talking about the Redmi 8A as well. Surprisingly enough, despite being positioned below the Redmi 8, both devices have a lot in common. The Redmi 8A has the same Snapdragon 439 chipset, 6.22-inch 720p IPS display, 12MP rear camera, and 8MP selfie shooter.

More importantly, the Redmi 8A also features a 5,000mAh battery, so its battery life should match that of the Redmi 8.

So what are the differences between the Redmi 8 and Redmi 8A? Well, for starters, the Redmi 8A’s rear camera system does not have a 2MP depth sensor. It also lacks a fingerprint reader, while the RAM and storage capacities max out at 3GB and 32GB respectively.

At the moment, only the Redmi 8 is available in Malaysia. Two variants of the device are offered here: the 64GB model with 4GB of RAM retails at RM599, while the more affordable 32GB variant with 3GB of RAM goes for only RM499. All three colours of the device are launched in our market: Sapphire Blue, Ruby Red, and Onyx Black.

You can place your order for the 64GB variant of the Redmi 8 tomorrow on 12 October at all Authorised Mi Stores, Shopee, as well as Lazada. Those who purchase the phone on 12 October itself will also receive a Mi Compact Bluetooth Speaker 2 worth RM49.

If you want the more affordable Redmi 8 with 32GB of storage, this particular model will only arrive here on 18 October. It is also sold exclusively online from Shopee and Lazada.