The Redmi Note 10S is a filler between the vanilla Note 10 and the more accomplished Redmi Note 10 Pro in Xiaomi’s lineup. Its clever choice of components lures buyers of the Redmi Note 10 to make a huge leap in price. At the same time, it is also priced competitively to take on the Moto G40 Fusion, the recent favourite of geeks under Rs 15,000.
The Moto G40 Fusion just got a price bump of Rs 500 and even then is cheaper to buy than the Redmi Note 10S. A quick look at specs sheet and it comes across as a superior choice over the Redmi. In fact, the Moto G40 Fusion can trade blows the Redmi Note 10 Pro with its ambitious spec sheet, just at Rs 14,499.
Hence, if you have to spend almost Rs 15,000 on a smartphone today, which one should you choose?
Redmi Note 10S vs Moto G40 Fusion
Design
Out of these two phones, it is the Redmi Note 10S that looks fancier with its tasteful gradients and loud yet premium touches. The chrome inserts around the main camera along with glass layers on the Note 10S makes it look good. The Moto G40 Fusion tries to go subtle with its plain rectangular camera hump and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor. Both phones have narrow-bezel displays with notable chins but it’s the Motorola that has an attractive 21:9 aspect ratio.
Both Xiaomi and Motorola have used plastic as the choice of construction and both are built well enough to take daily abuse with ease. However, the Redmi Note 10S is tastefully built with clever attention to details and superior finishes.
Display
This again is 50:50. The Redmi Note 10S offers a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution. This is a good display by all means with vibrant colours and high brightness levels. That said, the 6.8-inch IPS LCD display on the Moto G40 Fusion is bigger and almost as good in terms of colour reproduction. Plus, it gets a refresh rate of 120Hz, which is a boon while gaming and scrolling. Hence, for most generic smartphone use cases, both of these phone displays are great.
Performance
Despite the similarities in the chipset, the Moto G40 Fusion has a slight advantage over the Redmi Note 10S. The Snapdragon 732G on the Motorola edges out the Helio G95 of the Redmi Note 10S by a slight margin in terms of power efficiency and CPU performance. Moreover, the near-stock Android experience on the Motorola helps with agility in animations and app loading speeds, which gives slight performance gains over the Redmi phone.
That’s not to say that the Redmi Note 10S is slow. The MIUI 12.5 experience is in stark contrast to Motorola’s stock android. There are umpteen ways to customize your experience, starting right from the how the battery icon looks, to the sound effects while deleting an app or file. The interface is fancy and you get to choose from a wide variety of themes as well.
Cameras
Redmi’s camera tuning puts the Note 10S ahead of the Motorola phone by some margin. Both phones feature a 64-megapixel main camera sensor but it is the Redmi that benefits from better image processing and more vibrant colours as well as contrasts. Motorola’s tuning tends to go for a natural look but it often struggles with challenging conditions. Same is the case with the ultra-wide cameras where the Redmi benefits from superior image processing. The macro camera output on the Redmi looks better while the Moto G40’s ultra-wide camera-based macro solution goes for higher details.
Battery
This area is dominated by the Moto G40 Fusion, owing to its 6000mAh battery. The Moto G40 Fusion can easily last two days, thanks to Motorola’s smart software tuning and the extra-large capacity. The 20W charger is slow to charge but you end up spending lesser time at the sockets with the Motorola.
The Redmi Note 10S with its 5000mAh battery is no slouch here but paired with a less power-efficient MediaTek chip, you can at most stretch it to the next day with moderate to light usage. The 33W fast charger does help in quick refills.
Price
The Moto G40 Fusion starts at Rs 14,499 for the base version with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. If you want to get the 6GB RAM version, you have to pay Rs 16,499. That’s more expensive when compared to the Redmi Note 10S variants and goes into the Moto G60 territory, which is largely based on the G40 Fusion.
The Note 10S starts at Rs 14,999 with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage while the one with 128GB storage costs Rs 15,999.
Hence, the base version of the Moto G40 Fusion is cheaper by Rs 400 whereas the high-end 6GB RAM version is expensive by Rs 500.
Verdict
After going through all the points, the comparison between these two phones in neck-n-neck. Have a look at the pros and cons of each of them.
Moto G40 Fusion
– Gets technically superior Snapdragon 732G chip
– Bigger 120Hz display
– Lower starting price
– Better battery life
– Clean Android experience
– Helio G95 chip still fast enough for most users and gamers
– More vibrant AMOLED display
– Faster charging tech
– Better build quality
– Better camera performance
– MIUI 12.5 is feature-rich
This is one of the most difficult comparisons we have faced in this sub-Rs 15,000 segment. Both phones are equally capable and have their own benefits to offer.
However, if we have to pick one out of the pair, we would choose the Redmi Note 10S. It provides the right mix of all features without compromising highly on any front, and MIUI 12.5 offers a value-added experience.
