Redmi K40 Gaming Edition Now Official; Price Starts From RMB 1999

Redmi has officially launched the latest entry to the K40 flagship series in China, which also happens to be the brand’s first ever gaming smartphone. Known specifically as the K40 Gaming Edition, the new smartphone offers top-notch performance, unique features such as pop-up shoulder buttons, accent lighting, and more.

The new Redmi-branded gaming smartphone comes with a large 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a resolution of 1080 x 2400px, HDR10+ support, 120Hz refresh rate, and 480Hz touch sampling rate. Housed within the punch-hole cutout on the top of the screen is a 16MP selfie camera. One notable feature that fans would highly appreciate is the fact that its body also sports dust and water resistance with a rating of IP53.

Hardware-wise, under the hood of the phone is a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset – making it the only K40 variant to not feature a flagship Snapdragon processor. Along with it is a RAM configuration that is offered up to 12GB and storage of up to 256GB of UFS 3.1. Ensuring that the internal hardware is kept at optimal temperature is Redmi’s LiquidCool vapor chamber technology which features white graphene to greatly reduce heat dissipation. Keeping the device powered up is a large 5,065mAh battery, which also comes with Xiaomi’s 67W fast charging capability via USB-C. 

Besides that, the gaming smartphone features a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, dual JBL tuned speakers with Dolby Atmos support, and a triple microphone setup for regular and video calls. As mentioned earlier, the K40 Gaming Edition also comes with shoulder triggers that pop-up when the user flips the dedicated slider switches on the top and bottom of its right side. Doing this would also activate the bracket lights around the phone’s rear camera island, which is kind of cool.

Speaking of which, housed within the aforementioned island is a triple camera setup consisting of a 64MP primary sensor with an f/1.65 aperture lens, an 8MP ultra-wide, and a 2MP macro. Other than the bracket lights, the Redmi K40 Gaming Edition features a sleek metallic rear panel with line design elements that is offered in Black, Silver, and White colors.

A more attractive two-toned yellow and black version of the phone also exists, marketed as the Bruce Lee Special Edition. We have no idea how mobile gaming is correlated to the legendary martial artist and actor, but hey… it’s Bruce Lee. And that’s awesome enough.

The Redmi K40 Gaming Edition is slated to be on sale in China starting from 30 April 2021, and are offered in multiple configurations. The base 6GB/128GB model of the handset will retail at RMB 1,999 (~RM 1,265), the 8GB/128GB at RMB 2,199 (~RM 1,390), 8GB/256GB at RMB 2,399 (~RM 1,516), 12GB/128GB at RMB 2,399 (~RM 1,516), and the 12GB/256GB at RMB 2,799 (~RM 1,770). Meanwhile, the Bruce Lee Special Edition is offered with the highest configuration, and is set to retail at RMB 2,799 (~RM 1,770). The expected global availability for Redmi’s first ever gaming smartphone has not been announced at this time.

Redmi Gaming Smartphone Teased; Confirmed To Be A Variant Of Its K40 Flagship

Redmi, via Weibo, has released a teaser featuring a glimpse of its upcoming gaming smartphone. Interestingly, the company also revealed that the new device is actually a variant of its flagship series that was launched back in February and would officially be known as the K40 Game Enhanced Edition.

From the provided image (which happens to be animated), it is revealed that the phone will feature a triple camera setup, hidden shoulder buttons, and a slider switch. The latter, when activated, would release the K40 Game Enhanced Edition’s shoulder buttons and activate the lighting effects on the upper and lower halves of its rear camera array – an interesting yet gimmicky kind of way of announcing to the world that you’re eager to play mobile games on the Redmi-branded handset.

Besides that, the gaming variant also sports a metallic gray rear case with line design elements and a large cylindrical camera island for its triple cameras – an interesting design shift that sets it apart from the original K40 models, which featured two layered bumps for their rear shooters. The brand did not reveal what sensors will be included in the setup, and the dual horizontal spots located in between the top and middle cameras are unspecified as well.

As mentioned earlier, the top and bottom of the camera island features a bracket-like lighting system and the words “Freezing” and “Speediest” are engraved on its sides. The engravings are most likely referencing the Game Enhanced Edition’s cooling system and onboard chipset. Speaking of which…

For now, the only officially confirmed hardware to be included on the new Redmi gaming smartphone is a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 chipset. Meanwhile on the unofficial side of things, it is said that the device will come with a Samsung E4 AMOLED display with 144Hz refresh rate and a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging support. Leakster Digital Chat Station recently shared that the Xiaomi subsidiary may launch the gaming smartphone in two different configurations, but did not supply any information regarding the difference of specifications.

Along with the teaser image, Redmi has confirmed that it will launch the K40 Game Enhanced Edition next week on 27 April in China. According to insiders, the phone is expected to launch at a starting price of RMB 2,000 (~RM1,260).

Xiaomi Launches Redmi K40 Flagship Series In China

Xiaomi has recently launched three models of the new Redmi K40 flagship series in China. These consist of a standard K40 model, a Pro version and a high-end Pro Plus – all of which are equipped with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 800 series chipsets.

All three variants share the same display across the board, which is a Gorilla Glass 5-protected Samsung E4 6.67-inch AMOLED flat panel with 1080 x 2400 px resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The Redmi K40 trio features a side-mounted fingerprint sensor on the power button, Dolby Atmos tuned stereo speakers, sub-6 GHz 5G and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity, Bluetooth 5, NFC, an IR blaster, and a 4,520mAh battery with 33W fast charging via USB-C. Concurrently, all three are also certified IP53 for dust and water resistance.

Both the Redmi K40 Pro and Pro Plus are equipped with the same Snapdragon 888 chipset, but differ in terms of RAM and storage configurations. Specifically, the former comes with up to 6GB RAM and up to 256GB of storage, while the latter is offered only with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The standard K40, on the other hand, is powered by a Snapdragon 870, along with RAM and storage options of up to 12GB and 256GB respectively. It’s also worth pointing out that the 870 is a revamped version of Qualcomm’s last flagship, the Snapdragon 865, now featuring a clock speed of 3.2 GHz and an Adreno 650 GPU.

The Redmi K40 trio comes with a triple rear camera setup which features the same 8MP ultra-wide and 5MP telephoto macro sensors. What sets each model apart is their main cameras; where the Pro Plus features a 108MP sensor, the Pro gets a 64MP, and the standard version features a 48MP sensor instead. Video-wise, the two high-end variants are capable of recording in 8K at 30fps, while the vanilla’s maximum video resolution is capped at 4K/30fps. All three models come with a 20MP front-facing camera housed in the punch-hole cutout in the main display.

In terms of pricing, the standard Xiaomi Redmi K40 model retails at RMB2,000 (~RM1,252) for the 6/128GB configuration, RMB2,200 (~RM1,377) for 8/128GB, and RMB2,500 (~RM1,565) for 8/256GB. Meanwhile, the K40 Pro is priced at RMB2,800 (~RM1,753) for the 6/128GB, RMB3,000 (~RM1,878) for 8/128GB and RMB3,300 (~RM2,066) for 8/256GB. Lastly, the K40 Pro Plus – as mentioned earlier – is only offered in one configuration at 12/256GB, which retails at RMB3,700 (~RM2,316).

While the new Redmi phones (especially the Pro Plus model) do share some similarities with Xiaomi’s own Mi 11 flagship, they are clearly aimed towards users of the brand’s ecosystem  series that are considering a more affordable alternative. Provided that they don’t mind going with a flat display panel, and slightly smaller battery capacity.

All three smartphones will be on sale in China on 4 March, but their global availability has not been confirmed at this time. However, sources say a recent discovery in the IMDA (Infocomm Media Development Authority) listing suggests that the standard variant of the Redmi K40 may be sold globally under Xiaomi’s other subsidiary brand POCO instead.