Xiaomi Nepal’s Facebook page recently announced that they will be launching 7 new surprises to the consumers this monsoon. Among them, two have been launched today, and guess what, they are one of the popular smartphone series from Xiaomi i.e. the Redmi 9 series. Let’s see what upgrades Redmi 9 and Redmi 9A have brought to the table over the market-loved last-gen Redmi 8 series.
Redmi 9 Overview
Redmi 9 is a good successor to Redmi 8 in many aspects. In short, it will likely be the new market-dominating entry-level smartphone in Nepal. It has a 6.53-inch FHD+ IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1080×2340 pixels and a waterdrop notch on top. There is no Redmi branding on the bottom unlike on the Redmi 8. The screen is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
The rear of the device is sleek and clean with a linear capsule enclosing the quad-cameras along with a circular physical fingerprint sensor just below the camera sensors. The rear camera sensors include 13MP f/2.2 primary sensor with Auto-Focus (AF), 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide sensor with 118-degree FOV, and Fixed-Focus (FF), 2MP f/2.4 depth sensor and a dedicated 5MP f/2.4 macro lens (4cm) making it a very versatile camera phone for its price point. The front camera sensor is of 8MP f/2.0 aperture.
The upgrade is performance is likely the best-selling point for this device since it is powered by a gaming-focused octa-core Helio G80 chipset from MediaTek unlike the much slower processor on the Redmi 8. Helio G80 has two Cortex-A75 power cores running at a clock speed of 2.0 GHz and rests six energy-efficient Cortex-A55 cores with a lower clock speed of 1.8 GHz. So, the processor shines during multitasking and gaming meanwhile being power efficient to last you an entire day or more supplemented by its large 5000maH battery that supports 18W fast charging through its USB-Type C port. Sadly, the company will only ship a 10W charger inside the box. The RAM and storage are of LPDDR4x and eMMC 5.1 technology respectively.
Also Read: Realme C3 Review: The Budget Gaming Monster?
The phone has all the required sensors along with an IR blaster. For connectivity, it has Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS/AGPS/GLONASS/Beidou, and Dual- 4G SIM support.
Redmi 9 Specification
| Display | 6.53″ Full HD+ 1080 x 2340 pixels, 19.5:9 ratio (~395ppi density) IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors |
| SoC (Chipset) | Mediatek Helio G80(12nm) |
| CPU & GPU | Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 CPU &6×1.8GHz Cortex-A55) Mali-G52 MC2 GPU |
| RAM and Storage | 3/32 GB & 4/64 GB |
| Battery and Charging | 5020mAh with 18W fast charging |
| Rear Camera | 13 MP, f/2.2, 28mm (wide), 1/3.1″, 1.12µm, PDAF 8 MP, f/2.2, 118˚ (ultrawide), 1/4.0″, 1.12µm 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro) 2 MP, f/2.4, (depth) LED flash, HDR, panorama 1080p@30fps |
| Front Camera | 8MP, f/2.0, 27mm(wide) HDR 1080p@30fps |
| Operating System | Android 10, MIUI 12 |
| Security/ Sensors | Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass |
| Water-Resistant | |
| Other Features | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE with A-GPS, USB 2.0-Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go (OTG), Infrared Port, Wireless FM Radio |
| Colors | Carbon Grey, Ocean Green and Sunset Purple |
Redmi 9 Price in Nepal:
| Model | Variant | Price in Nepal |
| Redmi 9 | 3GB RAM + 32GB Storage | Rs. 16,999 |
| Redmi 9 | 4GB RAM + 64GB Storage | Rs. 17999 |
Redmi 9A Overview
Redmi 8A was already a good budget-level smartphone for its price point. The newer Redmi 9A has a 6.53-inch IPS LCD display with an HD+ resolution of 720×1600 pixels which is better than last gen. Also, the design is slightly different due to lesser chin and bezels along with a top-left camera module on the back. There is no fingerprint sensor on the phone.
Redmi 9A is powered by the latest G-series MediaTek chipset (G = gaming-focused) i.e. Helio G25 which is a 12nm based octa-core processor. The processor is made up of Octa 2.0Ghz Cortex-A53 CPU cores supported by PowerVR GE8320 (650MHz) GPU. So, we can expect improved performance. The only variant available is the 2GB RAM and 32GB storage variant but you can upgrade the storage up to 512GB through the available empty micro-SD card slot. Talking about software, it runs on the latest MIUI 12 based on Android 10 which is great for a phone at this price range.
For the camera, there is a single 12MP camera sensor on the back alongside an LED flash. On the front, there is a 5MP sensor inside the waterdrop notch. Both support video recording up to 1080@30fps. Just like the Redmi 8A dual, I am hoping we will get a Redmi 9A dual too.
Now, Mr. Xiaomi, I don’t feel so good about the battery specs here. Its large 5000 mAh battery has pretty good battery backup but there is a micro-USB port with 10W charging instead of an upgrade over the Type-C port with 18W charging of the older Redmi 8A.
The other features of the phone include accelerometer, gyro and proximity sensors along with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot, Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP and LE with A-GPS.
Redmi 9A Specification
| Display | 6.53″ HD+ inches 720 x 1600 pixels, 20:9 ratio IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen |
| SoC (Chipset) | Mediatek Helio G25 |
| CPU & GPU | Octa-core 2.0 GHz Cortex-A53 CPU PowerVR GE8320 (650 MHz) GPU |
| RAM | 2 GB |
| Storage | 32 GB |
| Battery and Charging | 5000mAh |
| Rear Camera | 13MP LED flash, HDR, panorama 1080p@30fps |
| Front Camera | 5MP HDR 1080p@30fps |
| Operating System | Android 10, MIUI 12 |
| Security/ Sensors | Fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity |
| Water-Resistant | |
| Other Features | Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, hotspot Bluetooth 5.0, A2DP, LE with A-GPS, USB 2.0, Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, USB On-The-Go, Infrared Port |
| Colors | Granite Grey, Peacock Green, Sky Blue |
Redmi 9A Price in Nepal
| Model | Variant | Price in Nepal |
| Redmi 9A | 2GB RAM + 32GB Storage | Rs. 11499 |
The company has already revealed that Redmi 9A will be available in Nepal across 1800+ Mi offline stores and SastoDeal from August 2. Since the Redmi 9 will be launching in India on August 4, we can hope for it to be available within a week after that or maybe sooner.
Also Read: Xiaomi Mobile Price in Nepal || Specs || Features
Follow TechSathi on Facebook and Youtube for future news about the launch of Redmi 9 and stay tuned for the full review of these phones.
