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Mi 9 to launch today in China: Here's all we know about Xiaomi's next flagship

The Mi 9 is to be announced on 20 February, which is the same date as the Galaxy S10-series launch.

Tech2 News Staff|Feb 20, 2019, 07:35:37 IST

Upcoming smartphones in recent times are turning out to be the worst kept secrets by companies. If not by "leaks" and renders, most of the smartphone companies are themselves posting information about their yet-to-be-released devices to generate hype.One such phone is the flagship from Xiaomi, called the Mi 9, which in no uncertain terms has been leaked through a series of Weibo posts and official Twitter handles of Xiaomi employees. In any case, the Mi 9 is an important flagship device of this year and although chances are that it may not come to India, here's everything we know about the device.[caption id="attachment_6092731" align="alignnone" width="1580"]

Mi 9 teaser on WEibo.[/caption]

Xiaomi Mi 9 Design and Display

The social media posts by Xiaomi CEO and co-founder Lei Jun in China paint a nearly complete picture of the device's design language. The Mi 9 will come with a waterdrop notch and 6.4-inch AMOLED display with Gorilla Glass 6. Leaks point out that the screen will have a 2220 x 1080 pixels and 600 nits brightness.

The flip side of the phone is seen to sport a triple camera setup arranged in a vertical orientation. There is no fingerprint sensor in the renders that were posted on Weibo. A separate tweet by Xiaomi showed that the Mi 9 would have a chin that is 40 percent smaller than the Mi 8.[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Xiaomi Mi 9 will feature a dew-drop notch-style display. Image: Weibo/Lei Jun

Xiaomi Mi 9 will feature a dew-drop notch-style display and in-display fingerprint sensor. Image: Weibo/Lei Jun[/caption]The reason you don't see any fingerprint sensor on the rear side or on the front is because Xiaomi claims that the Mi 9 will feature an in-display fingerprint reader. Xiaomi has also said that it will be 25 percent faster than the one present on Mi 8 Explorer Edition.

The phone has also been teased in three separate colour variants as well called: Lavender Violet, Ocean Blue and Piano Black

Mi 9 Camera

The Xiaomi Mi 9 is sporting a triple-camera setup and it is believed that one of the sensors will have a 48 MP resolution. There is also going to be 16 MP wide-angle camera and a 12 MP telephoto camera.Further, all the lenses at the back of the camera will apparently be protected by a Sapphire glass to keep it from getting scratched. There is no information, as of now, about the front camera.

Mi 9 Chipset, RAM and Storage

The Mi 9 will come with a Snapdragon 855 chipset accompanied by an X24 LTE modem and at least 6 GB of RAM. The storage variants include a 64 GB model going all the way to 256 GB or perhaps even 512 GB. The X24 modem indicates that the Mi 9 won’t be supporting 5G connectivity as there is no mention of a Snapdragon X50 LTE modem which is 5G compatible. A transparent edition of the device has also been revealed by the company which is going to be called the Mi 9 Explorer Edition and will have an astounding 12 GB of RAM.[caption id="attachment_6107271" align="alignnone" width="1280"]

Xiaomi Mi 9.[/caption]

Price and Launch

According to an image and video shared on Weibo, which was first spotted by a Chinese blogger, Xiaomi Mi 9's base variant, that will have 6 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage, will be priced at CNY 3,299, which translates to about Rs 35,000. The Mi 9 will also come in a higher 8 GB RAM plus 128 GB storage variant, that will reportedly be priced at CNY 3,499, which is about Rs 37,000.

Finally, there will be the top end variant, that will also have 8 GB RAM, but it will be equipped with 256 GB of storage. It is expected to be priced at CNY 3,699 which translates to Rs 39,000 approximately. The Mi 9 Explorer Edition, is expected to be priced at CNY 5,999, which is about Rs 63,000.The phone is to be announced on 20 February at an event in China, which happens to be on the exact same date as the Samsung Galaxy S10-series launch as well as the Vivo V15/V15 Pro launch.