Another year and another Redmi Note series update are here. Xiaomi has launched Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max android smartphones in India. Both Redmi Note phones pack solid features out of the box. You get quad cameras at the back, Snapdragon SoC, the abundance of battery, and new and improved Aura Balance Design. They both runs on Android 10 based MIUI 11 OS.
Comparing two, Redmi Note 9 Pro Max is the big boy and Redmi Note 9 Pro is a slight water-down version. It also reflects this on the pricing of the two. Redmi Note 9 Pro Max will be available starting at Rs 14,99 for the 6GB RAM and 64GB store variant, whereas it would cost Rs 16,999 for the extra storage or 6GB RAM and 128GB variant. If you’ve got more money to spend then you could go for the top-spec, the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage option costing Rs 18,999.
On the other hand, Redmi Note 9 Pro price in India starts at Rs 12,999 for the 4GB RAM and 64GB storage option. There is also another 6GB RAM and 128GB storage variant, which cost Rs 15,999. Colour options in both phones are limited to Aurora Blue, Glacier White, and Interstellar Black.
Ready to purchase? Redmi Note 9 Pro will be available for purchase starting at 17th March on Amazon India. Whereas, for purchasing Redmi Note 9 Pro Max you need to wait a few more days. The phone will go on sale starting 25 March and that too via Amazon India. The phones will also be available for purchase through Mi.com, Mi Home stores, Mi Studio stores and other major mobile retail stores in the country.
The Spec Reveal
Both the Redmi Note 9 Pro and Redmi Note 9 Pro Max comes with the new and improved Aura Balance Design. Both are protected by P2i with splash-proof nano-coating to prevent any kind of accidental water splash. They both flaunts a 6.67-inch full HD+ (2400 by 1080 pixel) IPS DotDisplay boasting 20:9 aspect ratio. As you have guessed from the display name, there is the dot cut out or punch a hole in the screen to accommodate the front camera. The screen, back glass panel and even the back quad-camera array are protected with triple Corning Gorilla Glass 5. As its a big lengthy phone to hold, Xiaomi has chosen for the side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Under the hood, both the phones come with Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G processor coupled with Adreno 618 GPU. However, the chipset is paired with up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in Redmi Note 9 Pro, while you get to choose up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage combination with Redmi Note 9 Pro Max. Both phones are expandable (up to 512GB) thanks to the 2+1 SIM card slot. Thus you could use two SIM cards simultaneously and also able to expand your storage with microSD card.
Note that, both these phones pack much slower UFS 2.1 based internal storage.
Camera Difference
Even when both phones feature a quad camera, it’s also the biggest difference between the two phones. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max gets a combination of 64-megapixel primary camera (1/1.7 inch CMOS image sensor and f/1.89 aperture), 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera (119-degree field-of-view and f/2.2 aperture), 5-megapixel macro camera (2cm focus distance) and 2-megapixel depth sensor.
On the other hand, Redmi Note 9 Pro packs the same camera combination as Redmi Note 9 Pro Max but primary camera replace with a 48-megapixel lens (1/2.25 inch CMOS image sensor and f/1.79 aperture).
In both phones, the rear camera supports 10x digital zoom, PDAF and single-tone flash. Additional features include ultra nightscape mode, AI scene detection, AI Beautify, AI high-resolution photos and more AI-related camera tricks. The rear camera can also shoot 4K videos at 30fps or 1080p videos at 60fps/30fps.
There is also a big difference in the in-display front camera of both phones. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max boasts a 32-megapixel lens, whereas the Redmi Note 9 Pro gets a 16-megapixel lens.
Other Features
As for connectivity, both Redmi Note 9 Pro series supports Dual 4G with VoLTE, VoWiFi, 2×2 WiFi MIMO and Bluetooth 5.0. They also feature NavIC, which is India’s navigation system or GPS alternative. There is no headphone jack and instead, you need to adjust with USB Type-C port.
Both phones come with 5020 mAh Li-Polymer battery, which is more than enough for heavy daily usage. However, both of these phones charge differently. The Redmi Note 9 Pro Max comes with much faster 33W Fast Charger in-box, whereas Redmi Note 9 Pro carries only the 18W Fast Charger in-box.