Home Reviews Q: Is the Mi 9 still the best price/performance smartphone? Does Mi 9 have a poor battery? What’s new in Mi 9? Is it still worthy of buying after the price increase? Let’s find out in this Xiaomi Mi 9 review: Xiaomi is known for the Mi series and has to work a lot after the ‘Redmi’ brand became independent. For the search of the ‘perfect’ budget which genuinely offers what and how much the user is paying, we stumbled upon the newly released ‘Xiaomi Mi 9’. So what if it doesn’t have a Quad-HD display like those from Samsung, a hidden pop-up front camera like that of Vivo V15 Pro, or slider design. We call it perfect in sense of the essential features and superior configuration it boasts, still having the most affordable price. No doubt, it’s still the best price-over-performance smartphone similar to the previously released Mi 8 and Pocophone F1. These include the use of Gorilla Glass Protection 6, a simple yet elegant design carrying the Mi tradition, triple cameras, SD 855, 27W wired and 20W wireless charge, and the list goes on. Did You Know: The Mi 9 was originally priced at 3299 yuan ($490). But the CEO ‘Lei Jun’ persuaded Xiaomi executives to change the price to 2,999 yuan, in order to support the Xiaomi brand and Xiaomi fans out there. Lei Jun said that this may be the last time the Xiaomi flagship is priced at less than 3,000 yuan, but Xiaomi will never abandon the price/performance ratio. Coming back to our Xiaomi Mi 9 review, let’s dive into the details to know the flagship better: Xiaomi Mi 9 Review – The Cheapest Yet Much Awaited Snapdragon 855 Flagship Specification Sheet ModelMi 9 Dimensions157.5 x 74.7 x 7.6 mm Weight173 g MaterialAluminium Alloy + Glass (Gorilla Glass 5) Screen6.39 inches, 100.2 cm2 (~85.2% screen-to-body ratio) DisplaySuper AMOLED Resolution1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~403 ppi density) Others (Screen)Gorilla Glass 6, HDR 10, 103% NTSC 2.5D curved glass screen 600 cd/m2 60000:1 contrast Always-On Display, LED Notifications SoCQualcomm Snapdragon 855 CPUOcta core, 1x2.84 GHz Kryo 385 + 3x2.4 GHz Kryo 385 + 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 385 GPUQualcomm Adreno 640 RAM6/8/12GB ROM128GB/512GB, UFS Storage 2.1 MicroSD Card SupportNo Network2G bands: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 CDMA 800 & TD-SCDMA 3G bands: HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 4G bands: LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 17(700), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300) Dual SIMYes, Nano SensorsIn-screen fingerprint, infrared, accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass Camera (rear) 48 MP, f/1.8, 1/2", 0.8µm, Laser/PDAF 16 MP, f/2.2, 13mm (ultrawide), 1/3.0", 1.0µm, Laser/PDAF 12 MP, f/2.2, 54mm (telephoto), 1/3.6", 1.0µm, Laser/PDAF, 2x optical zoom Video: 2160p@30/60fps, 1080p@30/120/240fps, 1080p@960fps Camera (front)20 MP, f/2.0, 0.9µm ConnectivityWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS Dual Band, NFC, IR, USB Type-C 2.0, OTG support Audio JackNo OSAndroid 9.0 (MIUI10) BatteryNon-removable Li-Po 3300 mAh battery, 10 hours continue video playback (online), 27W Quick Charge Wireless ChargeYes, 20W The Boxing Under the light, the appearance of the Xiaomi Mi 9 box is shiny. This time, the packaging is completely different from the previous one. The design style has a big difference. What is interesting is that the next turn of the packaging box is “9” changed to “6”, and again Xiaomi Mi 9 turned to “6”. Maybe Xiaomi wants to pay tribute to the Mi 6, which the Mi 9 resembles. However, looking at the box, it’s a fresh start from Xiaomi. In addition, the box adopts a certain degree of gradation color elements, which is very close to the holographic illusion color seen on the back of Mi 9. Continued on Page 2 (Design & Appearance)
