Wait, let me get myself a bottle of water, because this one is going to be a long wild ride.
BUILDING UP THE HYPE
It was the summer of 2019, and we were all heated up due to the excess heat, ofcourse.
But there was also a teaser that was raveling the hearts and minds of the people who loved Xiaomi.
Yes, that teaser was about the Redmi's first Smartphone in K Series, the direct competitor to OnePlus, the flagship killer, the true undefeated champion, the stranger from the past, the light of the future, the one who rule the seven seas and the one who flew to the seventh sky, the protector of the night, the one true knight, the one and only..
Okay, sorry, I watch too many movies and it really got the best of me.
All I meant to say is, this smartphone was advertised literally as a flagship and a OnePlus killer, and even their first teaser was something, that reminded us of the Past.
Poco F1 was the soldier who truly served its purpose, the soul that lived the best life, the one who went head to head in the face of enemy, the king that fought the battle from the front, the one who defeated..
Am so sorry again, you know the movies, right?
So, if I really be honest, people really believed in the upcoming Redmi K Series Smartphones and thought that it will provide them the best upgrade over Poco F1 while keeping the prices similar.
And there is nothing wrong with expectations until you reached to the last two words that states "Priced Similar". These are the two words that can break anyone's heart, can kill anyone's desire, can ruin a perfect blind date or can stop Simran from boarding the train.
As someone wise has said, Expectations are the Killer of Joy.
And The Killer of Joy was really going to Kill the Killer of Flagships.
TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE
The launch date arrived, the stage was set, the fans were cheering, the specifications were revealed, and everything felt too good to be true.
The Redmi K20 Pro Smartphone just stole many hearts.
This smartphone was like a Lucifer Morningstar, who question the people to let them know what they desire the most, and with every answer, they said, "Yes it has it".
A good design? There's no Match.
Looks? You see that Fire in the Back? Truly a Burner.
Good build quality? Just hold this Gorilla Glass and Metal Sandwich Phone Bro.
What about Display? No Notch, No Punch-hole, Its a full View 6.4in AMOLED FHD+ Display With Under-Display Fingerprint Sensor paired with HDR10 Support.
So Limitations in Processing Power? Fastest CPU at the time the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 paired with upto 8GB of LPDDR4X Ram and upto 256GB of UFS2.1 Storage.
The Cameras Must be Limiting, Right? 48MP Main Camera with F1.8 Aperture, EIS, PDAF and Laser Auto-Focus that really focuses to subjects at fastest speed even in the low light and camera just performs so Good. Can Shoot 4K @60FPS Videos and can take great Portrait with 8MP 2X Zoom Lens and Awesome Landscape Shots with 13MP Ultra-Wide Lens. I Just can't digest the fact that even the Smartphones of today don't get this better camera setup.
Okay, Okay, What bout Selfie Camera? A 20MP Camera that Shoots good enough pictures, yes not the best, but the feeling of having a pop-up camera that sits inside your screen and only pop-up when you need with LED Lights covering the camera like a notification ring. It was an Experience Bro.
Then Where's the Cost Cutting, in Batteries and Charging? Who said there's any cost cutting? A 4000mAh Battery with upto 27W Charging Support at that time was blessing to have.
Anything Else? Yeah it did have 3.5mm Audio Jack, Hi-Res Audio, Graphite Cooling System, Hardware Level DC-Dimming, Dual Frequency GPS and Whatnot.
This has got to be the most exciting phone till date, the most deserving phone till now, the phone that will be remembered for the ages, the phone that should be held accountable for the murder of all the flagships, the phone that isn't only a hero, but a true warrior that comes up with all the weapons to show the enemy its true strength and real power.
But who knew that the best accomplice of this warrior will backstab it and make it wounded for the rest of its life.
ET TU, BRUTE?
The Murphy's fifth law states, if something could go wrong, it will.
And the Prices of the smartphones dropped.
The Redmi K20 Pro Starts at 27,999/- for 6/128GB and 30999/- for 8/256GB Variant.
What was that? Said the guy who thought it would be free.
Its Overpriced? Said the guy who never gonna buy it anyway.
The Problem with Redmi K20 Pro was never its pricing, but the expectations it set in the minds of the consumers about how much a Flagship Killer should cost.
This well planned agenda of a true cost of flagship killer was set by none other than the father of this smartphone, the original, and his one true accomplice, POCO F1.
In 2018, Poco F1 was launched, it was called the "Flagship Killer", and the Xiaomi team did the famous advertising of this smartphone at the launch of OnePlus 6T by distributing actual calculators to the public and saying "Do the Math".
But sadly, that calculator had enough battery that it lasted even after the launch of Redmi K20 Pro and people started actually doing the Math.
The Math : Poco F1 launched at 20999, So Redmi K20 Pro is 7000/- more than the F1.
And this is how Poco F1 backstabbed the Redmi K20 Pro. People over the internet got crazy calling it an overpriced smartphone. All the perfect specifications went into a gutter and all that remains is that why this phone is priced higher than F1.
Even though none of the Smartphones in the market has this much better specifications, not even any other smartphone provides remotely close to what it was providing at that price. Still, the negativity spreads like fire, the fire that nobody could stop.
And some of the excuses that not many can afford.
Some Trolls, that Redmi should stick to a budget brand.
Some never checked the facts but bashed it,
Yeah, just to be in the trend.
WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU, MAKES YOU STRONGER
All those negativity, all those overpriced calls, all those bashing and even after taking every type of criticism this smartphone wasn't ready to get killed.
It wasn't a loser, it was a fighter, a struggler's hustle, an achiever, a rider in the lost hope and a dark passenger. It was not something that everyone can top, it itself was the peak and it remained that way for a very long time.
Sooner or later, people begin to realize that even the newer smartphones that is being launched by any brand has not the ability, capacity and specificiality to defeat this smartphone in any way.
And the talks or more importantly the comparisons begin.
OnePlus 7 is good, but the price of Redmi K20 Pro is more tempting.
OnePlus Nord at that high price? Well, I will better get Redmi K20 Pro then.
Eww, This Phone still comes with Huge Notch, How Redmi K20 Pro did Full Screen Display just Under 30K?
Even after an Year, I don't think any Smartphone comes close to Redmi K20 Pro.
And that's it.
If Redmi K20 Pro was judged by looking at the Specifications and Price of Poco F1, then after Redmi K20 Pro, each and every Smartphone went through a litmus test, and when compared to the K20 Pro, they all failed to provide what K20 Pro did.
No matter how much this smartphone was criticized only because of its price, which in fact was really really good, it had got something, some unique personality or something that was missing from the smartphone industry from the past few years.
Yes, it had the spark, the spark that can lit up its own fire and burn everyone. Yes, it was a late bloomer, but a constant performer. And the harsh truth is also that, we were a slow observer.
YOU LIVED LONG ENOUGH
Either you die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain, Said Harvey Dent.
But the Redmi K20 Pro Proved,
That sometimes you just refuse to die and live long enough,
to make people realize what a gem you are.
Sometimes, it just takes time to let people accept your true nature.
Sometimes, all it takes is one good day to make your life.
Or one bad day to ruin your night.
But you need not to accept the defeat.
Hope, Hope and keep Hoping for the light.
Now Signing off from this Post with Closing Lines from Interstellar.
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
2 Comments
What a story of true champion and warrior!
ReplyDeleteIs it going to rise again?
This much smoke and dust to it's competetor ?
Hope, if they do, it would be best. We want that Xiaomi which was at the time of K series, note 7 series, note 10 series.
We Hope that it does the same what it did 3 years ago, but its like a dream.
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