Xiaomi spilled most of the Mi 9's spec details earlier this week, but today the phone got its full, official introduction.
The Xiaomi Mi 9 is the latest flagship smartphone from the Chinese phone maker. It's got top-end specs like an octa-core Snapdragon 855 processor, 6/8/12GB of RAM, and 128/256GB of storage. Its display is a 6.39-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2340x1080 and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, and yes, it's got a notch up top where the 20MP front camera lives. There's a fingerprint reader built into the display, too.
Around back is one of the highlight features of the Xiaomi Mi 9: its triple camera setup. This includes a 48MP Sony IMX586 1/2-inch sensor that can combine four pixels to one in low-light conditions for clearer photos. Xiaomi has also packed in phase detection and laser autofocus to help the Mi 9 focus more quickly. Next to the 48MP snapper is a 16MP ultra wide angle camera with a 117-degree field of view and a 12MP telephoto camera with 2x optical zoom.
Xiaomi touts that the Mi 9 has earned a score of 107 from camera testing firm DxOMark. That places it in third place in the group's smartphone testing ranks, behind the Huawei Mate 20 Pro and P20 Pro but ahead of devices like the iPhone XS Max, Galaxy Note 9, and Pixel 3.
Powering the Xiaomi Mi 9 is a 3300mAh battery which you'll recharge over USB-C. Xiaomi says that the Mi 9 offers 27W wired charging with Qualcomm Quick Charge 4+, letting you recharge the Mi 9 to 70 percent in 30 minutes and fully charge in 60 minutes. Wireless charging is speedy, too, topping out at 20W.
On the software side, the Mi 9 runs Xiaomi's custom MIUI 10 user interface on top of Android 9.0 Pie. Included is a Game Turbo mode that can "predict gaming scenes and intelligently allocate resources for complicated scenes."
The Xiaomi Mi 9 is launching in China on February 26th. Pricing will start at 2999 yuan ($446 USD) for the model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage and go up to 3299 yuan ($491 USD) for the 8GB/128GB version. Xiaomi will also sell a special Transparent Edition of the Mi 9 with a transparent back, 12GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage for 3999 yuan ($595 USD).
Also announced today is the Mi 9 SE, a more affordable version of Xiaomi's new flagship. This model has a 5.97-inch 2340x1080 AMOLED screen, 3070mAh battery, and 18W fast charging. It's got many of the same features as the standard Mi 9, too, like the triple rear camera setup, in-display fingerprint sensor, and 20MP selfie camera.
The Xiaomi Mi 9 will launch on March 1st. It'll cost 1999 yuan ($297 USD) for the 6GB/128GB model and 2299 yuan ($342 USD) for the 8GB/128GB version.
