vivo Y53i is a low-end phone for Indian market, but is it a Redmi rival?

The vivo Y53i is the latest phone from the Chinese brand to launch in India that it hopes will win market share from Xiaomi’s budget Redmi phones. The Y53i carries a 7,990 rupee (~$120) price tag and is available now in the region, the company has announced.

In terms of sheer horsepower, the device offers 2GB of RAM, 16GB of expandable storage, a 2,500 mAh battery, and a low-end Snapdragon 425 quad-core chipset. Display-wise, we’re looking at a 5-inch panel with a 960 x 540 resolution.

The vivo Y53i also offers an 8MP main shooter and a 5MP selfie camera. vivo is touting “ultra HD” photo functionality for their device though, allowing it to combine multiple 8MP snaps into a 32MP shot.

“Ultra HD technology takes several consecutive images and combines them, enabling the 8MP rear camera to render up to 32MP photos,” vivo explains on its website. It’s unclear how effective this can be, although we certainly liked the OPPO N3’s Ultra HD feature, praising it for reducing noise.

Fans of facial unlocking will also want to look at the vivo device (literally), as the front camera handles authentication duties here. You probably shouldn’t expect it to be anywhere near as advanced as Apple’s Face ID based on the Y53i’s price tag.

Based on the Y53i’s specs alone, it seems like it’ll have a tough time competing with Xiaomi’s budget offerings in India’s emergent market where Redmi devices, such as the even more affordable Redmi 4A, reign supreme. That being said, if you’re after facial unlocking and high-resolution photos, then you might want to have a closer look at vivo’s latest.