Xiaomi is at it again. Hot off the company’s announcement of their Mi 11 flagship, the company is announcing not one, but two, entry-level devices which make up their new entry-level line up: the Redmi 9T and the Redmi Note 9T. Both come with specifications that make them contenders for your attention if you are looking to purchase a smartphone on the cheap.
Redmi 9T – A non-5G Device for the in-between
Not all devices need to be 5G enabled – that is a truth that is hard to deny as we are squarely in the transitional time between 4G LTE and 5G. Xiaomi is acutely aware of this and continues to provide options for their consumers. The Redmi 9T is the latest in their 4G LTE devices.
The Redmi 9T comes equipped with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 662. The Octa-core processor comes with 4 cores clocked at 2.0GHz and a supplemental 4 cores at 1.8GHz. The processor is complemented with the Adreno 610 graphics processor. The combination of which should be able to handle most, if not all, tasks that you can throw at it. In fact, it should be able to handle most high-end games (you’ll have to wait on our review for a full breakdown).
Complementing the formidable internals of the Redmi 9T is a 6.53-inch IPS LCD panel sporting a Full HD+. The display comes with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. It should be large enough to provide a sufficiently immersive experience. It comes with ample space coming in both 64GB and 128GB. This is complemented with either 4GB or 6GB of RAM.
On the camera front, the main camera setup of the Redmi 9T is a quad-camera setup. The main sensor is a 48-megapixel sensor with a 1/20-inch sensor size and 0.8µm pixel size. It has an f/1.8 aperture and wide-angle with 26mm focal length; equipped with phase detection auto-focus (PDAF). This sensor is complemented with a 8-megapixel ultrawide sensor, and a 2-megapixel macro sensor; and a 2-megapixel depth sensor. Up front is an 8-megapixel wide sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.
Redmi Note 9T – MediaTek Powered 5G
Together with the Redmi 9T, Xiaomi also announced their new entry to the Redmi Note series: the Redmi Note 9T. The new entry to the Redmi Note is also the first commercially available smartphone running on the new MediaTek Dimensity 800U processor. The new processor is an entry level processor equipped with 5G technology. It comes with 2-cores clocked at 2.4GHz complemented with 6-cores clocked at 1.8GHz. 4GB of RAM complements the processor in addition to 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.
The Redmi Note 9T comes equipped with a 6.53-inch IPS LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate and a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The smartphone is powered by a 5,000mAh lithium polymer battery which supports 18W fast charging.
On the camera front, the Redmi Note 9T is equipped with a triple sensor main camera setup. It comes with the same 48-megapixel sensor found on the Redmi 9T complemented with a 2-megapixel macro and 2-megapixel depth sensor. Up front is a 13-megapixel sensor with an f/2.3 aperture.
Pricing & Availability
| Model | Variant | International Pricing | Malaysian Pricing (Official) | Availability |
| Redmi 9T | 4GB + 64GB 4GB + 128GB 6GB + 128GB | €159 (USD$194.30/MYR783.48) €189 (USD$230.96/MYR931.30) n/a | MYR599 n/a MYR699 | January 9, 2021 (International) January 15, 2021 (Malaysia) |
| Redmi 9T (NFC) | 4GB + 64GB 4GB + 128GB | €169 (USD$206.52/MYR832.75) €199 (USD$243.18/MYR980.58) | n/a n/a | February 2021 (International) |
| Redmi Note 9T | 4GB + 64GB 4GB + 128GB | €229 (USD$279.83/MYR1,128.40) €269 (USD$328.71/MYR1,325.50) | n/a | January 11, 2021 (International) |
Exchange rates used are taken at 6:15pm on January 10, 2021 from xe.com; 1 EUR = 4.92752 MYR & 1 EUR = 1.22198 USD