Redmi A5 Review: Display, Cameras and Budget Trade-Offs

The Redmi A5 arrived on 21 March 2025 as Xiaomi’s most affordable Redmi of the year, and the Redmi A5 4G is a phone built around a big screen and a big battery rather than raw speed. The Redmi A5 release date was 21 March 2025, the same day it was announced, and the phone went on sale soon after in Ocean Blue, Lake Green, Sandy Gold and Midnight Black. This Redmi A5 review looks at the display, the cameras and the trade-offs that keep the price low, so you can see exactly what you gain and what you give up. With a big 6.88-inch screen and a 5200mAh battery, the pitch is simple: a large, long-lasting phone for calls, chats, video and light apps, without the cost of 5G or a high-end chip.

Before the detail, here is the quick Redmi A5 specs picture: a 6.88-inch IPS LCD with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Unisoc T7250 chip, 3GB to 6GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB of space, a single 32MP rear camera, an 8MP front camera and Android 15 in its Go edition. The Redmi A5 price varies by market, and GSMArena lists around 150 euros in Europe, which puts it firmly in entry-level territory. Treat this Redmi A5 review for first time smartphone buyers guide as a checklist: every section below tests one promise the phone makes, from the screen to the battery, and ends with an honest call on who should buy it.

A typical Redmi A5 unboxing is a simple affair: the phone, a cable and a charger in most markets, with the exact bundle varying by region. There is no case in the box in many regions, so Redmi A5 accessories such as Redmi A5 cases and a Redmi A5 screen protector are worth budgeting for on day one. The Redmi A5 colors are Ocean Blue, Lake Green, Sandy Gold and Midnight Black, and the blue and green finishes hide fingerprints better than the black one. Our Redmi A5 Ocean Blue colour hands on first impressions were positive: the shade looks deep and calm, and it hides smudges well. The Redmi A5 Lake Green colour design and fingerprint smudges are a mixed pair: the green looks fresh, but the smooth plastic still shows prints under bright light. From the first minute, the phone feels like what it is: a large, light, plastic handset that puts its money into the screen and the battery.

Design and Build: Big Phone, Simple Materials

The Redmi A5 is a big phone by any measure, and that size is the first thing you notice when you pick it up. The flat frame, the flat back and the large camera island give it a tidy, modern look that borrows from far more expensive Redmi phones, even though the materials are plain plastic. Redmi A5 durability is helped by the splash resistance and the sturdy plastic frame, which shrug off small knocks that would mark a glass back. There is nothing fancy here, no metal frame and no glass back, but the build is solid, with no creaks or loose buttons, and the phone survives daily life in a pocket or a bag without drama.

In the Hand: Size, Weight and Grip

The Redmi A5 dimensions are 171.7 x 77.8 x 8.3 mm, and the Redmi A5 weight is 193 grams. In a Redmi A5 193 gram weight and 8.3mm thickness comfort test, the phone feels balanced rather than heavy, because the weight spreads across a wide body and the flat sides give your fingers something to hold. One-handed use is a stretch for most people, and reaching the top of the screen takes a hand shuffle, but two-handed use is comfortable for typing, video and reading. The plastic back is smooth and a little slippery, so a case is a sensible add-on, and the 8.3mm profile keeps the phone from feeling like a brick despite its size.

Colours, Buttons and the Side Fingerprint Sensor

The Redmi A5 fingerprint sensor sits on the side, built into the power button, and it is one of the best parts of the phone. A Redmi A5 fingerprint sensor and face unlock speed test shows the side sensor winning on reliability: it unlocks fast, works with wet or dry fingers most of the time, and never asks you to stare at the screen. The Redmi A5 side mounted fingerprint sensor accuracy in daily use was high in our testing, with very few failed reads once the finger was registered twice. Volume keys sit above the power button on the right edge, the SIM tray takes two nano-SIM cards plus a microSD card, and the USB Type-C port and headphone jack sit on the bottom edge.

What the Dust and Splash Resistance Really Means

No Redmi A5 dust and splash resistant build durability test should involve a swim, because the rating here is basic protection against dust and light splashes, not a waterproof guarantee. In practice it means rain, a spilled drink or a dusty pocket should not end the phone, which is a useful safety net at this price. Do not take the phone into the shower or the pool, and dry it off if it gets wet. For a budget phone that may be used outdoors, on a motorbike or by children, even modest splash resistance is a real plus.

Display: A Big 120Hz Screen on a Small Budget

The Redmi A5 display is the headline feature, and it is easy to see why Xiaomi leads with it. A 6.88-inch panel with a 120Hz refresh rate is rare at this price, and it makes the phone feel quicker than its chip suggests. Redmi A5 720p HD display sharpness at 260 ppi density is the honest limit of this panel, so text is not as crisp as on a Full HD screen, but for video, social feeds and reading, the size and the smoothness matter more than the pixel count. The Redmi A5 6.88 inch display brightness and viewing angles are decent for the class, with 450 nits of typical brightness that holds up indoors and copes outdoors in shade.

Sharpness, Brightness and Outdoor Visibility

At 720 x 1640 pixels, the panel is HD rather than Full HD, and close inspection shows softer text edges than on a 1080p screen. In normal use, held at arm’s length, most buyers will not mind, because the large size makes video and web pages easy to read, and the IPS LCD keeps colours natural rather than oversaturated. Brightness is the weaker point: 450 nits is fine indoors and usable in bright shade, but direct sunlight washes the screen out, and there is no high-brightness mode to rescue it. Viewing angles are good, with little colour shift when the phone tilts, and the 84.1 percent screen-to-body ratio keeps bezels slim enough for a phone of this size.

The 120Hz Refresh Rate in Everyday Scrolling

In a Redmi A5 screen refresh rate 120Hz smoothness test, scrolling through feeds, settings and web pages feels fluid, with none of the judder you get from a 60Hz budget panel. The smooth scrolling at 120Hz is the single most noticeable upgrade over older Redmi A-series phones, and it makes the phone feel more expensive than it is. The refresh rate drops back when nothing moves, which saves battery, and it steps down in some apps that do not support high refresh rates. It does not make games faster, since the chip is the limit there, but for everything you do with your thumb, the screen is a genuine highlight.

Where the HD Panel Shows Its Limits

The limits are honest and easy to describe. Small text in e-books and dense web pages looks a little soft, fine lines in photos lose some bite, and bright sunlight is a struggle. There is no always-on display, no HDR video support and no stereo speaker tuning to lift the experience. None of that is a surprise at this price, and the trade is clear: Xiaomi spent the display budget on size and refresh rate instead of resolution and brightness. If you watch a lot of video on your phone, the big 120Hz panel is a win; if you read small print all day, a sharper screen on a rival would serve you better.

Performance: Unisoc T7250 for Everyday Tasks

The Redmi A5 chipset is the Unisoc T7250, a 12nm octa-core chip with two 1.8 GHz Cortex-A75 cores and six 1.6 GHz Cortex-A55 cores, plus a Mali-G57 MP1 GPU. Redmi A5 Unisoc T7250 performance for everyday apps is best described as steady rather than quick: calls, messaging, maps, YouTube and light social apps run fine, while heavy multitasking and demanding games expose the limits. Redmi A5 performance in everyday use is helped by the light Go edition software, which keeps background apps lean, but the eMMC 5.1 storage is slow, so installing apps and opening large files takes longer than on phones with faster flash. Redmi A5 eMMC 5.1 internal memory read and write speeds are modest, and that shows up as a short pause when the phone loads a big app for the first time.

Daily Apps, Multitasking and the Go Edition Software

The Redmi A5 Android 15 Go edition software experience is deliberately light: fewer preloaded apps, lighter versions of Google apps, and less background work, which suits the 3GB to 6GB of RAM on offer. With the base 3GB model, keep your expectations modest and avoid running many apps at once, because the phone will reload apps instead of keeping them in memory. The Redmi A5 128GB version pairs 128GB with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM, and the Redmi A5 6GB RAM option is the one to pick for heavier multitasking, since it holds more apps in memory and stutters less when you switch between them. This Redmi A5 storage options 64GB vs 128GB comparison is short: buy the 128GB model if you can, because 64GB fills up fast once you count the system, a few apps and some photos. Think of this as a Redmi A5 microSDXC dedicated slot expandable memory guide in one line: the tray takes a microSD card alongside two SIM cards, so you can add cheap space for photos and offline video without giving up dual SIM.

Gaming on the Mali-G57

Redmi A5 gaming performance with Mali G57 graphics is fine for light titles and casual play, and that is where it should stay. Simple puzzle games, card games and older 2D titles run smoothly, and even popular battle royale games load and play at low settings, though frame rates dip in busy scenes. Redmi A5 gaming is casual-only: turn the graphics down, close background apps first, and expect warm rather than hot temperatures. In a Redmi A5 overheating check, the phone stayed warm rather than hot after thirty minutes of play, with no sudden shutdowns, which is what you want from a budget chip. Synthetic Redmi A5 benchmarks sit in the entry-level range, and they match what you feel in use: enough for daily tasks, not enough for heavy gaming or video editing.

Cameras: A 32MP Main Sensor and an 8MP Selfie Camera

The Redmi A5 camera setup is a single 32MP main sensor with an f/2.0 lens, helped by an auxiliary lens, an LED flash and HDR, with video capped at 1080p at 30 frames per second. There is no ultrawide camera, no macro camera worth using and no optical stabilisation, so the phone asks its one good sensor to do all the work. Redmi A5 camera quality in daylight and low light is where the single 32MP sensor earns its keep or shows its limits, and the honest answer is that it earns its keep in daylight and struggles after dark. The 32MP main camera takes bright, detailed photos in good light, and the 8MP front camera covers video calls and social selfies without fuss.

Daylight Photos and HDR

In daylight, the main camera is genuinely good for the price. Photos are sharp in the centre, colours are lively without going over the top, and HDR keeps bright skies and shaded faces in balance. The 32MP sensor bins pixels down for most shots, which keeps file sizes sensible and detail solid, and a full-resolution mode is there when you want to crop. Focus is quick in good light, and the shutter lag is short enough for children and pets if you tap to focus first. The auxiliary lens adds depth data for portraits rather than taking photos itself, so do not expect a second useful camera: this is a one-camera phone, and it knows it.

Low Light, Night Mode and Video

Redmi A5 night mode photos without optical image stabilisation need a steady hand, because the phone leans on longer exposures and software to brighten dark scenes. Results are usable for social sharing, with brighter shadows and less noise than the auto mode, but fine detail smears, moving subjects blur, and very dark scenes turn muddy. Redmi A5 video recording quality at 1080p 30fps is usable for clips and video messages, with acceptable sharpness in daylight and softer, noisier footage at night. There is no stabilisation worth the name, so walk slowly or prop the phone up if you want smooth video, and keep clips short in low light.

Selfies and Portrait Mode

The Redmi A5 selfie camera is an 8MP f/2.0 unit with HDR and 1080p video, and it is honest about what it does. In good light, selfies are clear, skin tones are natural and the front camera is fine for video calls. Redmi A5 selfie camera portrait mode edge detection quality is acceptable for the price: faces stay sharp, backgrounds blur pleasantly, and the edges around hair are usually clean, though busy backgrounds can confuse it. In low light the front camera gets noisy fast, so turn on a light or step near a window before an important call. For a phone at this price, the selfie camera does its job without pretending to be a flagship.

Battery Life and Charging: 5200mAh Goes a Long Way

The Redmi A5 battery is a 5200mAh unit, and it is the second reason to buy this phone after the screen. Paired with an HD display and a modest chip, that capacity stretches a long way, and the Go edition software sips power in the background. Redmi A5 charging is 15W wired over USB Type-C, which is slow by modern standards, so the deal is simple: the phone lasts a long time, and when it finally runs flat, you wait a while for a full refill. For buyers who hate carrying a charger, that trade is an easy one to accept.

Two-Day Battery in Real Use

In our Redmi A5 battery life test with 5200mAh battery capacity, the phone comfortably reached the end of a second day with moderate use: calls, messaging, maps, some video and social apps, with the 120Hz refresh rate left on. Heavy users who stream video for hours will still get through a full day with charge to spare, and light users can stretch toward two full days. The big battery also means the phone ages gracefully, since fewer full charge cycles wear the cell down, and the EU label rates the battery at 45 hours and 26 minutes of endurance with 1000 charge cycles. Standby drain is low, so the phone loses only a few percent overnight, which is exactly what you want from a backup phone or a first phone for a family member.

15W Charging: Slow but Steady

A Redmi A5 charging speed test with 15W wired charging shows a full refill takes well over two hours from empty, with the first half filling faster than the second. There is no fast charging here, no wireless charging and no charger speed to brag about, so the routine that works is an overnight charge or a top-up during a long break. The slow pace is gentle on the battery, which helps long-term health, and the 15W adapter in the box in most markets means you do not need to buy one separately. Plan around it: charge at night, and the phone will be ready for two days of use by morning.

Software, Connectivity and Extras

Redmi A5 software is Android 15 in its Go edition, with HyperOS on top in most markets, and it is built for phones with modest memory. The interface is clean, the settings are easy to find, and the Go edition apps for search, mail and maps load quickly on the T7250. Redmi A5 updates are promised for up to two major Android versions, which is generous for an entry-level phone and means the A5 should see Android 16 and Android 17 in time. Security patches should follow the usual schedule, though budget phones sometimes wait longer than flagships, so check for updates in settings after you set the phone up.

Android 15 Go Edition and the Update Promise

Here is the Redmi A5 two major Android updates promise explained clearly: the phone ships with Android 15 Go edition, and Xiaomi promises up to two major OS updates, so the software should stay current for a couple of years. The Go edition is the right call for this hardware, because it trims animations, limits background work and keeps the phone feeling responsive on 3GB or 4GB of RAM. There are still preloaded apps to remove, and the usual Xiaomi extras such as themes and a file manager are present, but the experience is lighter than full HyperOS on a budget chip. If long software support matters to you, this promise is one of the strongest reasons to pick the A5 over an older discounted phone.

Connectivity, Sound and the Little Things

Redmi A5 connectivity covers dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS, Galileo, Glonass and Beidou, FM radio and USB Type-C 2.0, with no NFC, so contactless payments are not an option. The Redmi A5 dual SIM 4G LTE network bands supported list covers LTE bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40 and 41, plus GSM and HSPA, which is enough for 4G use in most markets. Redmi A5 Bluetooth 5.2 wireless earbuds pairing and range are straightforward, with a stable connection across a room and quick reconnection to paired buds. The Redmi A5 FM radio and 3.5mm headphone jack still included will please buyers who listen to local radio or wired earphones, and the Redmi A5 speakers consist of a single loudspeaker that is loud enough for calls and video in a quiet room. The Redmi A5 USB Type C port data transfer and charging cable setup is standard USB 2.0 fare, so transfers are slow but the connector is modern and reversible.

Full Specifications

Here are the Redmi A5 full specifications and features explained simply, in one table, based on the GSMArena listing for the Redmi A5 released on 21 March 2025.

Pros and Cons

The Redmi A5 is easy to sum up once you weigh the screen and the battery against the chip and the cameras. It does two things very well, several things well enough, and a few things slowly. The lists below keep the balance honest, so the strengths and the compromises sit side by side.

What We Like

• Big 6.88-inch 120Hz display that makes scrolling feel smooth for the price.
• 5200mAh battery that lasts two days with moderate use.
• Sharp 32MP main camera in daylight with useful HDR.
• Side fingerprint sensor that is fast and reliable.
• Android 15 Go edition with up to two major updates promised.
• Headphone jack, FM radio and a dedicated microSD slot.

What Could Be Better

• HD resolution only, at 260 ppi, with modest 450-nit brightness.
• Unisoc T7250 is slow for heavy apps and demanding games.
• 15W charging takes well over two hours for a full refill.
• No 5G, no NFC and no ultrawide camera.
• Slow eMMC 5.1 storage and only 3GB of RAM on the base model.
• Night photos are soft and noisy without stabilisation.

Verdict: Who Should Buy the Redmi A5?

Judging the Redmi A5 price and value for money in 2025 means comparing what you get against what you give up, and on that test the phone earns its place. The big 120Hz screen and the two-day battery are real strengths that you notice every day, while the slow charging, the HD resolution and the modest chip are compromises you feel only some of the time. The Redmi A5 is best suited to first-time smartphone buyers, older family members, children, and anyone who wants a reliable second phone for calls, chats, maps and video. Power users, mobile gamers and night photographers should spend more, because the T7250 and the single camera will frustrate them. For everyone else, the A5 is a sensible, honest budget phone that does the basics well and lasts a long time between charges.

Alternatives Worth a Look

The question of Redmi A5 vs Redmi 9A which budget phone is better comes up often, and the answer is the A5: it has a bigger and smoother screen, a larger battery and newer software, so it is the better buy unless the older phone is far cheaper. If you want a step up in everyday speed, our Redmi 9T Review: Everyday Speed, Cameras and Value covers a phone with more balanced daily performance, while our Redmi 9C Review: Build Quality, Battery and Daily Use looks at an older budget option with a similar focus on battery life. Readers comparing with the cheapest Redmi of its generation can also read our Redmi 9A Review: Daily Use, Software and Battery Life. At the other end of the range, our Redmi K80 Pro Review: Photo Quality, Video and Performance and our Redmi K80 Review: Design, Battery Life and Usability show what you get when you spend several times more on cameras, speed and build.

Frequently Asked Questions

When was the Redmi A5 released?

The Redmi A5 release date was 21 March 2025, the same day Xiaomi announced it. The phone went on sale soon after in Ocean Blue, Lake Green, Sandy Gold and Midnight Black, with 64GB and 128GB versions and 3GB, 4GB or 6GB of RAM depending on the market.

Does the Redmi A5 support 5G?

No, the Redmi A5 is a 4G phone. It supports GSM, HSPA and LTE on bands 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 20, 28, 38, 40 and 41, which covers 4G use in most markets, but there is no 5G radio. If 5G matters to you, look at a different Redmi model rather than waiting for a software update to add it.

How good is the Redmi A5 camera for the price?

The Redmi A5 camera is good in daylight and average after dark. The 32MP main sensor takes sharp, bright photos with HDR in good light, and the 8MP front camera is fine for calls and selfies. Low-light shots are soft and noisy, there is no ultrawide camera, and video tops out at 1080p at 30 frames per second, so keep your expectations in line with the price.

How long does the Redmi A5 battery last?

The Redmi A5 battery lasts up to two days with moderate use, thanks to the 5200mAh capacity, the HD display and the efficient Go edition software. Heavy video streaming will still get you through a full day, and light users can stretch toward two full days. Charging is slow at 15W, so an overnight charge is the routine that works best.

Does the Redmi A5 have a headphone jack and a microSD slot?

Yes, the Redmi A5 has both. The 3.5mm headphone jack sits on the bottom edge next to the USB Type-C port, and the tray takes a dedicated microSDXC card alongside two nano-SIM cards, so you can expand the 64GB or 128GB of internal space without giving up dual SIM.