Chinese Smartphone maker, Xiaomi, has just unveiled a new flagship phone – the MI 9 ahead of the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2019 event. Wonder if the company is also not trying to take the shine off the Samsung S10 and S10 Plus.
The Xiaomi MI 9 runs the leading Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 mobile platform and comes with a new AI triple camera containing the latest 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor. It is the world’s first smartphone to feature 20W wireless charging.
There are two models – the Mi 9 starting at RMB 2999, and Mi 9 SE starting at RMB 1999. There is also a transparent edition with 12GB RAM and features a 7P lens for its camera with a maximum aperture of f/1.47.
Mi 9 is Xiaomi’s first flagship with an AI triple camera, with the main camera utilizing the latest 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 1/2″ sensor.
The AI triple camera combination of the 48-megapixel main camera, 16-megapixel ultra wide-angle camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera gave Mi 9 a score of 107 by the authoritative DxOMark website, giving it a third-place world ranking of all tested smartphones. In addition, a video score of 99 puts it at number one on DxOMark for video capture.
Inside the Mi 9 is a large 3300mAh battery, featuring a fast charging solution for both wired and wireless charging. The 27W wired charging supports Qualcomm’s QC4+ standard, and enables Mi 9 to safely charge to 70% in just 30 minutes, and fully charge in 60 mins.
Mi 9 has an all-curved back cover design and an advanced back cover color process gives it a stylish holographic rainbow spectrum, so it looks different every time it is picked up.
On the front, Mi 9 sports a 6.39-inch 19.5:9 Samsung AMOLED Dot Drop display. Under this display is a new and improved in-screen fingerprint sensor that unlocks the phone up to 25% faster than the previous generation, and works well even in low-light conditions. Holding the fingerprint sensor after unlocking will also bring up a new quick interface that lets the user quickly access common features like QR code scanning and performing an internet search.
The Mi 9 SE is a compact version of the Mi 9 featuring Qualcomm’s brand new Snapdragon 712 processor, an upgrade to the Snapdragon 710 chipset. Even with a 5.99“ large Dot Drop display, the size of the device is comparable to a classic phone with a 5.1” screen. Similar to Mi 9, Mi 9 SE offers LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 storage, Samsung AMOLED screen, holographic rainbow spectrum surface on the back cover, Sony IMX586 sensor as well as the latest in-screen fingerprint sensor module, making it a flagship within the compact phone category.
Mi 9 will be available for pre-order on 20 February at 6pm, and 26 February at 10am for open sale across mi.com and Xiaomi’s major sales channels in China.
Mi 9 will retail at RMB 2999, RMB 3299 and RMB 3999 for the 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB and 12GB+256GB (Transparent Edition), respectively.
Mi 9SE will be available on 1 March at 10am on mi.com, starting from RMB 1999 for 6GB+128GB, and RMB 2299 for 6GB+128GB.
Together with Mi 9, Xiaomi is also launching three wireless charging devices, including 20W version of Mi Wireless Charging Pad (RMB 99), a 20W wireless car charger (RMB 169), and a 10000mAh wireless power bank (RMB 149)
