The Realme 9 is the Redmi Note 11’s closest challenger and it gets a 108MP main camera

Realme Malaysia has announced the Realme 9, the latest member of its mid-range series which comes right after the Realme 9i and the Realme 9 Pro lineup. Priced under RM1,000, the new Realme 9 is a serious contender to Xiaomi’s popular Redmi Note 11 series.

Realme 9 Malaysia Price

The Realme 9 comes in two configurations and here is the official pricing:

• Realme 9 6GB RAM + 128GB storage – RM899
• Realme 9 8GB RAM + 128GB storage – RM999

As part of its early bird offer, you can get the Realme 9 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model for RM829 via Shopee on the 22nd April 2022. The devices will be available at all Realme stores throughout Malaysia on 23rd April 2022.

The Realme 9 is offered in three colours – Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White and Meteor Black.

Realme 9 Hardware Specs

The Realme 9 is a step up from the previous Realme 9i as it gets a better display and camera. Upfront, it has a 6.4″ Full HD+ Super AMOLED display that pushes a 90Hz refresh rate and a 360Hz touch sampling rate. It also gets Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and an in-fingerprint sensor on the display which also doubles as a heart rate monitor.

Under the hood, it gets a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor which is similar to the base Redmi Note 11. It can be configured with up to 8GB of RAM and gets 128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. If you need more, you can expand the storage further via a microSD card, while the RAM is “Expandable” up to 5GB extra using its Dynamic RAM feature.

In the camera department, the Realme 9 gets a triple-camera setup which consists of a 108MP “ProLight Camera” that uses Samsung’s 108MP ISOCELL HM6 sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro shooter. For selfies, the tiny punch-hole on the screen houses a 16MP selfie camera.

Powering the Realme 9 is a 5,000mAh battery that supports 33W Dart Charge via USB-C. According to Realme, you can get a 50% charge in just 31 minutes. In terms of connectivity, it supports 4G, 5GHz 802.11ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5.1 and it also gets a 3.5mm headphone jack with Hi-Res audio. Out of the box, it runs on Android 12 with Realme UI 3.0 skin on top.

As a comparison, the Redmi Note 11 costs RM749 for the 4GB RAM + 128GB model and RM799 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB version. While it also gets a similar 6.43″ AMOLED display with 90Hz refresh rate and a Snapdragon 680 chip, the Xiaomi mid-ranger uses Gorilla Glass 3, a lower-resolution 50MP main camera and it runs on Android 11 out of the box. However, it gets a pair of stereo speakers and an IR blaster, which are missing on the Realme 9.

Which would you go for? The Realme 9 or the Redmi Note 11? Let us know in the comments below.