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Introduction
Every new Redmi has a seemingly impossible task - to deliver more bang for your buck than the previous one. And to be cheaper, or worst-case scenario - same price. Any other maker may have said, “no-can-do,” but not Xiaomi. It keeps going against the odds, and here is the Redmi S2 to prove it.
In a rather familiar Xiaomi fashion the Redmi S2 is available in different markets under a different name. India gets it as Redmi Y2, while China and the rest of the world will know it as Redmi S2. Both devices are identical though, so everything in this review applies for both.
The Redmi S2/Y2 is a successor to one of the most-affordable Redmis ever - the Y1, also known as Redmi Note 5A, or Redmi Note 5A Prime for China. And while it may be coming just six months after the Y1, the Redmi S2 is a massive upgrade.
There is now a bigger 5.99" 720p screen with the new tall aspect, a Snapdragon 625 chip for the first time ever in a budget offer, a dual-camera setup on the back with digital stabilization for the 1080p videos, a high-res selfie camera with enhanced portrait mode, a large battery, and the latest Android with MIUI.
All the typical Xiaomi quirks are here - the IR blaster, the always-on fingerprint sensor on the back, and a dedicated microSD card slot, too.
Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2) specs
- Body: Plastic body
- Screen: 5.99" IPS LCD display, 720 x 1,440 pixels, 269ppi
- OS: Android OS v8.1 Oreo, MIUI v9.5
- Chipset: Snapdragon 625 chipset: octa-core 2.0GHz Cortex-A53 processor; Adreno 506 GPU
- RAM: 3 or 4 GB
- Camera: Dual: 12MP F/2.2 + 5MP, live bokeh effects, LED flash, phase detection auto focus, 1080p@30fps video with EIS;
- Selfie: 16MP front-facing camera, HDR, LED flash, 1080p@30fps video
- Storage: 32GB/64GB of built-in storage
- SIM: Dual-SIM (nano-SIM)
- Connectivity: LTE; Dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n GPS/GLONASS/Beidou, Bluetooth v4.2, microUSB port, IR blaster
- Battery: 3,080mAh non-removable battery
- Misc: Fingerprint sensor (rear-mounted)
Looking at the specs sheet we can't be asking for more - Xiaomi has packed a lot more than we expected. So, let's unwrap this Redmi S2 and see how things will turn out.
Unboxing the Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
The Redmi S2 comes in one of those typical orange boxes by Xiaomi. The bundle is nothing special, but no one should expect a premium treatment for a budget offer. The retail package contains a 10W charger and a microUSB cable.
Just like most of the recent Redmi phones, Xiaomi has also thrown in a transparent rubber case for some extra protection.
Special thanks to HonorBuy for providing the review unit.
Design
The Xiaomi Redmi S2 is all-plastic, but the maker did try to make it look as metal as possible. You will immediately notice the antenna lines on the back, which serve no purpose except for decoration. But those are the details that make up the whole make believe.
The Redmi S2 (Y2) looks a lot like the Y1, but you can easily tell it's the more recent one. The screen is now larger and taller, yet the phone hardly grew - instead the top and bottom bezels were trimmed.
The new 5.99" screen occupies most of the front and there are no capacitive keys below. The Redmi S2 relies on MIUI to provide onscreen buttons.
The 16MP selfie camera is here to stay, but it now comes accompanied by a LED flash. While not the brightest selfie LEDs we've seen, it will do the job when it matters.
Xiaomi hasn't shed light on the screen glass just yet, but the Y1 had a Gorilla Glass 3, so we'd guess the Y2 might be having it, too. And if that's true, we'd totally understand the lack of a factory-applied screen protector.
The 12MP camera on the back has a 5MP helper, both sharing the same hump. In-between is a bright LED flash, for all the low-light occasions. The fingerprint scanner is also around, always-on, accurate, and blazing-fast, as usual.
The Redmi S2 is equipped with all the essentials - an audio jack and IR blaster, a microUSB port, and a tri-slot for two SIM cards and a microSD.
Xiaomi Redmi S2
The Redmi S2 thanks to its plastic body with matte finish provides decent grip. It feels solid and is easily handled. The bundled rubber case would provide for an even more secure grip and another layer of protection.
Display
Xiaomi is among the first makers to introduce the tall display on a budget smartphone. The 18:9 display is 5.99" big on the Redmi S2, which is a bit of a stretch for its 720x1440 resolution. Still, at 269ppi density we saw no pixelization, and while the screen won't top any charts, it is quite enough for the class.
The Redmi S2 display has a maximum brightness of 500 nits, but its black levels aren't that deep, which led to an average contrast ratio of 1000:1. But that's the contrast Xiaomi is promising, and apparently, it has delivered.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, cd/m2 | White, cd/m2 | ||
| 0.47 | 504 | 1072 | |
| 0.315 | 527 | 1673 | |
| 0.548 | 555 | 1013 | |
| 0.378 | 503 | 1331 | |
| 0.35 | 423 | 1209 | |
| 0.351 | 551 | 1570 | |
| 0 | 326 | ∞ | |
| 0.289 | 515 | 1782 | |
| 0.27 | 482 | 1785 | |
Sunlight legibility is nothing to phone home about, although its score is still respectable especially for a budget phone. In real-world terms, the handset remains perfectly usable outdoors. Just don't angle the sun straight at it.
Sunlight contrast ratio
- Apple iPhone X
5.013 - OnePlus 5T
4.789 - Samsung Galaxy S8
4.768 - Samsung Galaxy S8+
4.658 - Samsung Galaxy S9
4.63 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+
4.615 - Samsung Galaxy S9+
4.537 - Motorola Moto Z2 Play
4.459 - Oppo R11
4.454 - Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
4.439 - OnePlus 3
4.424 - Samsung Galaxy S7
4.376 - HTC One A9
4.274 - Oppo R15 Pro
4.251 - Samsung Galaxy Note7
4.247 - Samsung Galaxy A3
4.241 - Nokia 8
4.239 - Google Pixel 2 XL (pre-update)
4.234 - OnePlus 3T
4.232 - Google Pixel XL
4.164 - ZTE Axon 7
4.154 - Samsung Galaxy Note8
4.148 - Meizu Pro 7 Plus
4.147 - Samsung Galaxy S6 edge
4.124 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2017)
4.124 - Huawei Mate 10 Pro (normal)
4.096 - Samsung Galaxy Note5
4.09 - Huawei P20 Pro
4.087 - Nokia 6 (2018)
4.052 - Google Pixel 2 (pre-update)
4.023 - LG V30
4.022 - Huawei Nexus 6P
4.019 - Samsung Galaxy J7 Pro
3.998 - OnePlus X
3.983 - Vivo Xplay5 Elite
3.983 - Apple iPhone 7
3.964 - Oppo R7s
3.964 - Apple iPhone 8 (True Tone)
3.957 - Huawei P9 Plus
3.956 - Meizu Pro 6 Plus
3.935 - Lenovo Moto Z
3.931 - Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)
3.918 - OnePlus 5
3.914 - Samsung Galaxy C5
3.911 - Samsung Galaxy C7
3.896 - Samsung Galaxy A5
3.895 - Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor
3.879 - Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor
3.873 - Motorola Moto G6 Plus
3.865 - Samsung Galaxy A8
3.859 - Samsung Galaxy A8 (2018)
3.842 - Sony Xperia XZs
3.818 - Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)
3.817 - Motorola Moto X (2014)
3.816 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017)
3.812 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017)
3.804 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) outdoor mode
3.802 - Xiaomi Redmi Pro
3.798 - LG V20 Max auto
3.798 - Sony Xperia XZ
3.795 - Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)
3.789 - Apple iPhone 6s
3.783 - Meizu Pro 5
3.781 - Microsoft Lumia 650
3.772 - Xiaomi Mi 6
3.767 - Sony Xperia XZ1
3.765 - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016)
3.756 - Nokia 8 Sirocco
3.745 - Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact
3.729 - Apple iPhone 8 Plus (True Tone)
3.725 - Oppo F1 Plus
3.709 - Vivo X5Pro
3.706 - Samsung Galaxy A3 (2017)
3.688 - Huawei P20
3.683 - Apple iPhone SE
3.681 - Huawei Mate 9
3.68 - Samsung Galaxy A7
3.679 - Sony Xperia XZ2 Compact
3.675 - Meizu PRO 6
3.659 - BlackBerry Priv
3.645 - Sony Xperia XA1 Ultra
3.597 - Apple iPhone 7 Plus
3.588 - Sony Xperia XZ2
3.58 - LG G6
3.556 - Apple iPhone 6s Plus
3.53 - Motorola Moto Z Play
3.526 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016)
3.523 - Samsung Galaxy J3 (2016) outdoor mode
3.523 - Acer Jade Primo
3.521 - Microsoft Lumia 950
3.512 - Oppo R7 Plus
3.499 - Nokia 7 plus
3.479 - nubia Z11
3.466 - Huawei P10 Plus
3.456 - HTC U Ultra
3.453 - Motorola Moto G6
3.448 - Sony Xperia XA2 Ultra
3.445 - Samsung Galaxy J7
3.422 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
3.419 - Meizu MX5
3.416 - LG V20
3.402 - Samsung Galaxy A6 (2018)
3.397 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera
3.393 - Huawei P10
3.379 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)
3.378 - Oppo R9s
3.352 - Honor 8 Pro
3.341 - Oppo F7
3.333 - Oppo R7
3.32 - Lenovo P2
3.316 - Archos Diamond Omega
3.305 - Honor 9
3.289 - Xiaomi Mi 5s
3.276 - Nokia 5
3.261 - Nokia 6 (Chinese version)
3.244 - Nokia 6 (Global version)
3.238 - Samsung Galaxy J2
3.235 - Sony Xperia X Performance
3.234 - Xiaomi Mi Note 2
3.228 - Motorola Moto X Play
3.222 - Oppo F3 Plus
3.218 - Huawei Mate 9 Pro
3.206 - Huawei P9
3.195 - Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
3.19 - ZTE Nubia Z17
3.159 - Oppo R11s
3.153 - Lenovo Vibe Shot
3.113 - HTC U11 Life
3.108 - Motorola Moto X Force
3.105 - LG Nexus 5X
3.092 - HTC U11
3.089 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
3.077 - Huawei Mate S
3.073 - Microsoft Lumia 640 XL
3.065 - Apple iPhone 6 Plus
3.023 - Asus Zenfone 4 ZE554KL
3.019 - Sony Xperia XA1
3.012 - Motorola Moto X4
3.012 - Sony Xperia L1
2.994 - Sony Xperia X
2.989 - LG Q6
2.987 - Huawei P10 Lite
2.974 - Samsung Galaxy Note
2.97 - Huawei P20 Lite
2.952 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
2.951 - Huawei Mate 8
2.949 - Sony Xperia XA2
2.938 - Oppo Realme 1
2.932 - Xiaomi Redmi 4
2.92 - Xiaomi Redmi 3S
2.913 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
2.913 - Sony Xperia XA Ultra
2.906 - LG G5
2.905 - Huawei Honor View 10
2.896 - Xiaomi Redmi 3s Prime
2.893 - Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus
2.884 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium (sRGB)
2.877 - Sony Xperia XZ Premium
2.877 - Sony Xperia Z5
2.876 - Nokia 3
2.871 - Microsoft Lumia 550
2.851 - Lenovo Moto M
2.813 - Xiaomi Redmi 3 Pro
2.803 - Sony Xperia Z5 compact
2.784 - Honor 10 (Vivid)
2.757 - Nokia 2
2.752 - Meizu MX6
2.751 - LG V10
2.744 - Huawei Mate 10 (normal)
2.742 - Motorola Moto G5S Plus
2.737 - Xiaomi Redmi 3
2.735 - Huawei Honor 7X
2.734 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (S625)
2.714 - Meizu M5
2.71 - Sony Xperia M5
2.69 - Xiaomi Mi A1
2.689 - Huawei P9 Lite
2.679 - Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime
2.679 - vivo V7+
2.671 - Vivo V3Max
2.659 - Xiaomi Mi Mix
2.658 - Huawei Mate 10 Lite
2.654 - Oppo F5
2.653 - Doogee Mix
2.642 - Xiaomi Mi 4i
2.641 - Xiaomi Redmi 4a
2.635 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Standard)
2.616 - Sony Xperia XA
2.609 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus (max auto)
2.582 - Motorola Moto G4 Plus
2.582 - Meizu M5s
2.58 - Xiaomi Mi 4c
2.574 - LeEco Le Max 2
2.567 - Asus Zenfone 3 ZE552KL
2.563 - Huawei P Smart
2.563 - Microsoft Lumia 640
2.563 - Xiaomi Mi Max 2
2.561 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2.556 - HTC U11+
2.556 - Lenovo K6 Note
2.544 - Lenovo Moto G4
2.544 - Oppo F1
2.528 - Sony Xperia Z5 Premium
2.525 - Huawei Honor 7 Lite / Honor 5c
2.506 - Sony Xperia M4 Aqua
2.503 - BlackBerry Motion
2.494 - Oppo F1s
2.481 - Motorola Moto G
2.477 - Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus
2.473 - Huawei G8
2.471 - Huawei nova
2.467 - Sony Xperia Z
2.462 - Lenovo Vibe K5
2.459 - Meizu m3 max
2.447 - Xiaomi Mi 4
2.424 - Xiaomi Mi 5X (Auto)
2.417 - HTC 10 evo
2.407 - Huawei Honor 7
2.406 - Vivo V7
2.404 - Sony Xperia E5
2.386 - ZUK Z1 by Lenovo
2.382 - HTC 10
2.378 - Oppo F3
2.376 - vivo V5 Plus
2.371 - Meizu m1 note
2.362 - Huawei nova plus
2.329 - Razer Phone
2.328 - HTC One E9+
2.305 - Alcatel One Touch Hero
2.272 - Sony Xperia L2
2.266 - Lenovo Vibe K4 Note
2.254 - HTC U11+ (EU)
2.253 - Sony Xperia C5 Ultra
2.253 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)
2.249 - Sony Xperia C4 Dual
2.235 - Xiaomi Mi Note
2.234 - Motorola Moto G (2014)
2.233 - LG Nexus 5
2.228 - Huawei P8
2.196 - Meizu M5 Note
2.189 - Huawei Honor 6
2.169 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 2
2.166 - OnePlus Two
2.165 - HTC One X
2.158 - LG Aka
2.145 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 (X20)
2.145 - Archos 50 Diamond
2.134 - Xiaomi Redmi Note
2.119 - Xiaomi Mi 4S
2.095 - Acer Liquid X2
2.084 - Huawei P8lite
2.078 - vivo V5
2.059 - Moto G 3rd gen max manual
2.026 - Xiaomi Mi 3
2.001 - Xiaomi Mi Max
1.996 - Sony Xperia E4g
1.972 - OnePlus One
1.961 - Sony Xperia Z2
1.944 - Meizu m3 note
1.923 - BlackBerry Leap
1.892 - Meizu m2 note
1.892 - HTC Butterfly
1.873 - Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
1.772 - ZTE Nubia Z9 mini
1.759 - Sony Xperia U
1.758 - Asus Zenfone Selfie
1.68 - Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)
1.675 - ZTE Nubia Z9
1.659 - Jolla Jolla
1.605 - Motorola Moto E
1.545 - Sony Xperia M
1.473 - Sony Xperia L
1.351 - Xiaomi Redmi 2
1.311 - HTC Desire C
1.3 - Nokia X
1.291 - Meizu MX
1.221 - Sony Xperia E
1.215
The default (Standard with Auto setting) color rendering is average - the screen offers mostly accurate colors, but it looks a bit bluish, and the representation of the white color is way colder than it should be (DeltaE of 14). The overall color rendering out of the box worked out to an average DeltaE of 7.6, which is fine if you are okay with the cooler looking whites.
You can switch from Auto contrast to Standard and get rid of the blue tint. This mode will give you much more accurate color presentation with an average deltaE of 3.6 and a maximum deviation of 7 at point white.
Battery life
The Redmi S2 is powered by a 3,080mAh sealed battery - the same as on the Y1. It supports regular 5V/2A charging, which restores about 30% of the battery in 30 minutes of charging from zero. Not exactly fast, isn't it?
The S2 has the same energy-efficient Snapdragon 625 chip as many other Redmi phones, so we expected the S2 (or Y2) to do better than the Y1 (S435) in spite of the larger screen.
And it did - the Redmi S2 easily scored an excellent result in our battery test with a 92-hour Endurance rating. It did a great job in all tested scenarios - video playback, calls, web browsing and stand-by performance. That's a significant improvement over the Y1 with its 74h rating.
Our endurance rating denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Redmi S2 for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern, so our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritties. You can also check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Loudspeaker
The Redmi S2 has a single bottom-firing speaker at its disposal. It
| Speakerphone test | Voice, dB | Ringing |
Overall score | |
| 64.2 | 67.2 | 76.9 | Good | |
| 67.0 | 69.3 | 76.1 | Good | |
| 66.5 | 73.1 | 79.6 | Very Good | |
| 68.1 | 69.6 | 82.2 | Very Good | |
| 66.3 | 71.5 | 84.9 | Very Good | |
| 64.8 | 70.5 | 89.9 | Very Good | |
| 68.4 | 72.3 | 86.2 | Very Good | |
| 71.1 | 72.7 | 87.7 | Excellent | |
| 74.0 | 73.9 | 90.4 | Excellent |
Audio quality
The Xiaomi Redmi S2 pulled off a beautiful performance in our audio output quality test. It was very loud both with an active external amplifier and with our standard headphones set and its accuracy was basically flawless.
In fact, we could barely register any change when the headphones were plugged in, which is a real rarity among smartphones. And when you consider that it's not even a flagship, but a mere mid-ranger, this is a properly impressive performance.
| Test | Frequency response | Noise level | Dynamic range | THD | IMD + Noise | Stereo crosstalk |
| +0.02, -0.05 | -90.3 | 90.2 | 0.0015 | 0.015 | -93.1 | |
| +0.02, -0.06 | -93.3 | 93.2 | 0.0034 | 0.056 | -82.5 | |
| +0.04, -0.05 | -89.4 | 89.4 | 0.0018 | 0.016 | -90.5 | |
| +0.13, -0.00 | -90.4 | 90.4 | 0.0018 | 0.041 | -80.8 | |
| +0.00, -0.03 | -93.6 | 93.5 | 0.0050 | 0.011 | -94.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.02 | -93.5 | 93.4 | 0.0067 | 0.033 | -81.0 | |
| +0.01, -0.10 | -92.5 | 92.7 | 0.0019 | 0.0077 | -91.2 | |
| +0.50, -0.20 | -91.4 | 91.8 | 0.0079 | 0.402 | -51.5 | |
| +0.10, -0.20 | -37.5 | 80.4 | 0.0018 | 4.735 | -93.3 | |
| +0.05, -0.03 | -94.3 | 90.2 | 0.0027 | 0.019 | -58.6 | |
| +0.02, -0.31 | -38.8 | 81.7 | 0.0013 | 4.690 | -95.9 | |
| +0.25, -0.23 | -93.3 | 90.4 | 0.0045 | 0.227 | -53.9 | |
| +0.02, -0.01 | -92.6 | 92.6 | 0.0021 | 0.012 | -94.4 | |
| +0.17, -0.03 | -92.0 | 92.1 | 0.0023 | 0.092 | -52.8 |
Xiaomi Redmi S2 frequency response
You can learn more about the tested parameters and the whole testing process here.
MIUI 9.5 with Android 8.1
Xiaomi's Android skin has seen a lot of popularity over the years, particularly in European and Chinese markets. MIUI is one of the more heavily modified OEM skins, and that's why it's enjoying more polarized opinion.
Despite its big difference to vanilla Android, MIUI 9.5 runs smooth and looks nice. Starting off, there is no app drawer, and there's never really been one in MIUI except for a few custom themes that offer the shortcut. Of course, you can always install a third-party launcher if you really miss the app drawer.
Here are the default home screens on the Redmi S2. There's a weather widget in the upper right corner across from a large clock widget. There is a Quick Card pane, the leftmost one. It's quite similar to Today's page in iOS. It contains different cards with relevant information - recent apps, step counter, notes, calendar events, the weather, and favorites, among others. You can configure what shows up here, or you can disable this altogether.
Lockscreen • Home • notification • toggles • quick card
The app switcher feels like it came out of iOS - apps are represented by appropriate thumbnails in the same manner, but there is an additional key for the Split Screen mode. MIUI 9 adds native support for multi-tasking via the new Split Screen feature. It allows you to launch two apps side-by-side. All native apps support it and, luckily, all third-party apps with support for any kind of split screen mode work flawlessly on MIUI 9 side-by-side view.
App switch • multi-window • multi-window
Oddly, our Xiaomi Redmi S2 came without themes support, but that might be a market-dependent thing.
MIUI v9 also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.
Security app • Cleaner • Battery management • Managing a single app • Battery Saver
MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. If you are running on a Chinese ROM, then the Music and Video app will also allow access to local (paid) streaming services.
Multimedia
Benchmarks and performance
The Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2) is powered by the Snapdragon 625 chipset, not the most recent iteration in Qualcomm's popular 600 series. But until recently the chip was the most popular choice for the mid-range series and now we have it employed by a budget smartphone with a 720p display. And that's a big deal.
The Snapdragon 625 has a rather classic setup found in many mid-rangers in terms of CPU configuration - eight Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 2.0GHz. There is also a capable Adreno 506 GPU, which should thrive on a 720p screen.
Finally, you can get the Redmi S2 with either 3 or 4 gigs of RAM (depending on the storage configuration).
We'll kick off the performance measurement with GeekBench. As usual, we got some decent numbers - the Redmi S2 processor is doing a good job for the class outperforming every other device but the Realme 1 with its A73 cores.
GeekBench 4.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- Oppo Realme 1
5741 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
4313 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
4309 - Xiaomi Mi A1
4292 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
4018 - Motorola Moto G6
3972 - vivo V7
3935 - Huawei P20 Lite
3756 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)
3667 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
2610 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
2328
On its own, the A53 core is still a good performer.
GeekBench 4.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- Oppo Realme 1
1511 - Huawei P20 Lite
938 - Xiaomi Mi A1
877 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
874 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
848 - vivo V7
775 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
766 - Motorola Moto G6
754 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)
731 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
678 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
639
The Adreno 506 is still a very decent GPU for 1080p gaming more than 2 years since its introduction. But having it handle 720p graphics should be an easy-peasy task for it. Indeed, the Redmi S2 scored the best results in its class on the onscreen tests and completed everything hassle-free.
GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Oppo Realme 1
20 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
18 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
18 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
15 - vivo V7
14 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
13 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)
10 - Xiaomi Mi A1
9.7 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
9.4 - Huawei P20 Lite
8.1 - Motorola Moto G6
5.8
GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
14 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
13 - vivo V7
13 - Oppo Realme 1
12 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
11 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
10 - Motorola Moto G6
8.8 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)
7.4 - Xiaomi Mi A1
6.3 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
6.2 - Huawei P20 Lite
4.9
Finally, we ran our usual compound benchmarks. The Redmi S2 did good, but nothing impressive here. Its scores fell around the middle of the charts, but they are still more than decent for an entry-level-priced device.
AnTuTu 7
Higher is better
- Oppo Realme 1
138524 - Huawei P20 Lite
87431 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
77488 - vivo V7
71167 - Motorola Moto G6
70845 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
58757
Basemark OS 2.0
Higher is better
- Oppo Realme 1
1940 - Huawei P20 Lite
1455 - vivo V7
1310 - Xiaomi Mi A1
1262 - Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus
1226 - Xiaomi Redmi 5
1222 - Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2)
1186 - Motorola Moto G6
1136 - Samsung Galaxy J5 (2017)
1038 - Xiaomi Redmi Note 5A (Y1)
942 - Motorola Moto G6 Play
922
The Snapdragon 625 has found a new home in the budget market. Its processor is more than enough for the class, while the once-balanced Adreno 506 seems like a beast when living under a 720p screen. Other benefits are the high-end 14nm manufacturing process, which makes the S625 silicon quite power-efficient and keep it cool under peak load.
So, as far as the Redmi S2 performance is concerned - it's just brilliant and offers a lot more punch than many competitors.
Dual camera on the budget
The Xiaomi Redmi S2 rear camera has a 12MP sensor with f/2.2 lens and 1.25µm big pixels. There is another snapper nearby - a 5MP one, whose sole job is to provide scene depth information. Phase-detection autofocus, and a LED flash complete the camera specs.
The camera app puts toggles for HDR, filters, and the flash toggle on the left. The app also offers quite a few different shooting modes - Panorama, Timer, Straighten, Manual, Beautify, Tilt Shift, and Night (HHT) as well as the camera settings. Unfortunately, the Manual mode lets you tweak only ISO (100-3200), and white balance, but not the shutter speed or focus.
Camera app
Image quality
The image quality is very good in broad daylight - photos are sharp and detailed, and noise is kept reasonably low considering the f/2.2 aperture. We would have liked to see some more contrast, as the images are a bit flat. Some of the samples came out with a bit washed out colors, but nothing that extreme. Overall, we are happy with those photos.
Xiaomi Redmi S2 12MP camera samples
The dynamic range is rather limited, but that's where the HDR mode will come in handy.
HDR off • HDR on
The Redmi S2 low-light shots came out soft in a variety of scenes. You can see what's in the picture, just don't expect much detail when you zoom in. There is a lot of noise, sometimes we also got blurry images due to the lack of stabilization, but those still would do for the social networks.
Normal • HHT • Normal • HHT
If you leave the automatic HHT mode enabled - it enhances the low-light samples - you will get less noise in the images but most of the samples won't benefit from much more detail or higher contrast. Still, we prefer the less noise and we suggest keeping this option on.
Xiaomi Redmi S2 12MP low-light samples
You should check how the Xiaomi Redmi S2 (Y2) does against the Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Y1 in our Photo Compare Tool. We've pre-selected these two, but you are free to pick any other phone to compare it against.
Redmi S2 vs. Redmi Note 5 vs. Redmi Y1 in our Photo compare tool
Portrait Mode
The Redmi S2 uses the combination of the two cameras to shoot the trendy Portrait shots. It's a process of mapping the distance to all objects of the scene and attempting to isolate the subject in front by defocusing the background gradually in accordance with its distance to the subject. This works best when you're shooting a well-lit person or an object which stands out against the backdrop.
Shooting a portrait is easy, but it takes a while for the camera to read the scene and apply the depth effect. All samples max out at around 6MP and most of them turned out pleasant with mostly accurate shapes and blur effects. There are occasions where wrong details get blurred - like hair or parts of the face, but that's probably because of the busy scenes. As we mentioned above - it's better to have a background which is not so busy and a well-lit environment.
Xiaomi Redmi S2 portrait samples
Selfies
The Redmi S2 has a 16 MP sensor for selfies with 4-in-1 pixel binning, f/2.0 lens, and has some AI abilities. The machine learning comes handy when the phone is in Beautify mode or Portrait Selfie mode. There is an LED flash in the top bezel to assist in low-light conditions for photos and videos.
Xiaomi brags that the AI allows for much more accurate subject separation than the competition. And indeed, we found the Portrait shots taken with the selfie camera very impressive. The person is almost perfectly mapped, as is the background brilliantly blurred. Messy hair or not - the camera does an excellent job in recognizing it, while in the meantime even the tiniest of background spots visible between the hair and the arms are nicely blurred.
Selfie • Portrait selfie • Selfie • Portrait selfie
Those are definitely some flagship-grade portrait shots, and yet they are possible on one of the cheapest phones on the market. And that's amazing!
Selfie • Portrait selfie • Selfie • Portrait selfie
The regular selfies are rich in detail, have good contrast and colors, and while the dynamic range is limited, you can use the auto HDR option as it does a very good job in using HDR when it's needed. The samples are a bit noisy, but still - quite pleasant.
Selfie • HDR selfie
Video camera
The Redmi S2 video recording maxes out at 1080p@30fps mode. Those are captured at a bitrate of 20Mbps and have rock solid 30fps. The audio is stereo captured at 96KBps bitrate.
The video quality is very good - the resolved detail is enough, the dynamic range is about the average, the colors and contrast are very good. The noise is kept quite low, too. The audio sounds good, unlike on the Y1, and even though the bitrate is the same.
The Redmi S2 also offers gyro-based video stabilization - you just have to enabled it from settings (it should be ON by default). It does an excellent job stabilizing the videos at the minor expense of detail and field of view. The viewfinder won't show you the stabilized video, but we are still very happy with what we got in the end.
You can also download the 1080p@30fps (9s, 24MB) video sample taken straight off the Xiaomi Redmi S2.
Finally, you can use our Video Compare Tool to see how the Redmi S2 (Y2) stacks against the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera when it comes to video capture.
1080p: Redmi S2 (Y2) against the Redmi Y1 and the Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera in our Video compare tool
It turns out we are not finished with the camera. The Snapdragon 625's DSP supports 4K video recording, which is currently not available on the Redmi S2. The only thing standing in their way is market segmentation. Well, this trick is definitely not universal, but it turns our Xiaomi is using a standard camera APIs. So, we just downloaded the OpenCamera app from the PlayStore and bingo! 4K@30fps. And even EIS is working, too!
Despite the hack, the MP4 video has no issues, and runs very smooth, with a rock-solid frame rate of 30 and over 40 Mb/s bit rate on the AVC video stream. Resolved detail is clearly better.
And as we said, EIS is working as well. Once again, you won't see the result until after you've shot the video, but we'd call that greedy on a $150 phone.
You can download this untouched 4K video sample (10s, 54MB). And here is the 4K videos from the Redmi S2 in our video compare tool.
2160p: Redmi S2 (Y2) against the Redmi Note 5 and the Mi A1 in our Video compare tool
The Competition
Well, Xiaomi has done it again. It made a Redmi that's an even better bang for your buck than the previous one. The Redmi S2 is snappier than its predecessors, is a great selfie master, but also improves on the back camera, too. And the best way to appreciate the Redmi S2 qualities is to see how it stacks against the competition.
The Redmi Note 5, also known as Redmi 5 Plus, has a similar 5.99" display but with higher 1080p resolution. It runs on the same Snapdragon 625 chip as the Redmi S2, which means the S2 would offer much better GPU performance. The Note 5 lacks dual-camera on the back and has just basic selfie skills with its 5MP snapper. The Note has a better screen, while the S2 seems to be better in everything else. And cheaper.
Oppo Realme 1 is all-plastic, too, but stunningly designed it is. The phone has a higher-res screen, a faster chipset, but doesn't come with as capable cameras as the Redmi S2. Its battery life is inferior, too. The Realme 1 is cheaper though, so if dual-camera and perfect portrait selfies are not a must, maybe you should give it a try - if available in your country, that is.
The vivo V7+ has the same screen and chipset (S450 equals S625 for the most part), and is made of plastic, too. There is a good main camera and a great 24MP selfie snapper with really good portrait shots. The V7+ was quite expensive at launch, but its price has already settled down. The choice of MIUI versus FunTouch will decide the case here, if both devices are available in your market, of course.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 will be soon succeeded by the A2, but it's still a very viable offer. It's among the few metal phones you can buy in this price bracket, and has a regular 1080p screen, a Snapdragon 625 chip, and a dual-camera setup on its back that can do 4K native videos. The biggest benefit you'll get with Mi A1 is pure Android and regular updates as part of the Android One program.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 (Redmi 5 Plus) • Oppo Realme 1 • vivo V7+ • Xiaomi Mi A1
The Verdict
Even if we tried to argue against the Xiaomi Redmi S2, we'd fail miserably. It's one of the most powerful and jam-packed with features smartphones not only within its price bracket but probably in the next one, too.
Xiaomi has mastered the skill of making cheap, powerful phones. They are defying the impossible by keeping the price ever so low while still adding new features with each new generation every few months or so. That's something Apple, Samsung, and even OnePlus could try to learn.
Pros
- Good-looking design, secure grip
- Trendy display with good specs for the class
- Excellent battery life
- Superb performance
- Great audio quality and speaker loudness
- Lovely all-round camera performance
- 4K video recording with EIS via a 3rd party app)
- Flagship-grade portrait selfies
- Jaw-dropping price
Cons
- Hardly any, besides the limited market availability
The Redmi Y1 (Note 5A) was among the few Redmi phones we were on the fence recommending right away. It had it virtues, the selfies being the highlight, but there were better phones priced the same. Today, in a great turn of events, the Redmi Y2 (S2) is one of the best offers, if not the best, at its asking price.
Xiaomi did it again - made a budget phone worth buying without giving it a second thought. It's that simple and if you are on the budget and Xiaomi sells phones in your country, you have to go check the Redmi S2 out.
Special thanks to HonorBuy for providing the review unit.
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