Realme 9: Everything you need to know
Realme has been steadily rolling out its latest range of budget smartphones, with six phones official so far in the Realme 9 range – and a seventh on the way.
The phones offer an impressive range of budget options with a few unique features and surprisingly powerful specs, although not every model is available in every market.
Here’s all you need to know about the Realme 9 series.
When are the Realme 9 phones being released?
Realme has launched the Realme 9, 9 5G, 9i, 9 Pro, and 9 Pro+ in Europe and Asia and you can buy them now – including in the UK and India. It’s worth noting that the European and Indian versions of the 9 5G actually offer different specs, which we’ll explain later.
Two more phones – the Realme 9 5G SE and 9i 5G – also launched in India, but haven’t gone on sale elsewhere.
As with previous releases, it looks unlikely that US customers will be able to buy any of the Realme 9 devices except by importing.
Realme has also globally launched theRealme GT 2 and GT 2 Proflagships, which are available in similar markets.
How much do the Realme 9 phones cost?
With six models so far, there’s a range of prices in the Realme 9 series. So to keep things simple, here are the starting prices for each phone in the currencies we know so far:
For more on where to buy the phones, check out our guide to thebest Realme 9 dealswe’ve found.
What about the Realme 9 specs and design?
So far the Realme 9 range features six models, which we’ll each look at separately, while we also have a few details about the 9i 5G.
Realme 9
Let’s start with the regular Realme 9, even though it was actually the sixth to be announced.
The 90Hz display is an AMOLED, with an in-display fingerprint scanner – in this case one that also doubles as a heartrate scanner.
The chipset is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680, while RAM goes up to 8GB and charging is a nippy 33W. Inevitably it’s capped at 4G, which is the trade-off you make for improved specs elsewhere compared to the 9 5G.
The camera sounds impressive too. It features a 108Mp main camera powered by Samsung’s ISOCELL HM6 sensor – appearing in this phone before it actually appears in any Samsung handsets – along with a macro and an ultrawide.
It’s also a fairly slender phone, just 7.99mm thick and weighing 178g. It launches in three colours: Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White, and Meteor Black.
Realme 9 5G (Europe)
Just to keep things confusing, there are two different versions of the Realme 9 5G: one for Europe, and one for India. Let’s look at the European version first.
This phone is actually very different to the regular Realme 9, dropping specs across the board in exchange for fitting in 5G without a price increase (in fact, the 5G model is slightlycheaperin some European markets).
The European 9 5G sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695, which powers a larger 6.6in display – this jumps up to a 120Hz refresh rate, but is only LCD rather than OLED.
Charging drops to 18W, while the camera offers a 50Mp lead sensor, backed up by two 2Mp monochrome and macro sensors.
Realme 9 5G (India)
The Indian 9 5G is quite a different phone.
Curiously, it’s almost identical to last year’s Realme 8 5G, with basically the same design and components – except for an upgrade in the core chipset.
While it includes 5G, it’s otherwise worse than the regular Realme 9, which is what you sacrifice to get 5G.
Tellingly, it also ships with Android 11 software.
Realme 9 5G SE
The 9 5G SE – which stands for ‘Speed Edition’ – sits at the upper end of the range, and is actually more powerful (and expensive) than the 9 Pro.
So far, this is the only phone that looks like it won’t launch in Europe at all.
Powered by the Snapdragon 778G chipset, it also boasts an impressive 144Hz refresh rate – which could make it a popular option for gaming.
The 48Mp camera is a bit of a downgrade compared to the Pro though, which is why some buyers might opt for that phone instead.
Realme 9i
The 9i is the entry-level phone in the range, and was the first to be announced.
The phone’s design is simple, and fairly understated by Realme’s usual standards – no giant logo or racing stripe to be found. It’s available in the blue above or an even simpler black version.
The Realme 9i has a Snapdragon 680 chipset paired with 4/6GB RAM and 64/128GB storage. The display is a 6.6in FHD+ IPS LCD that can handle refresh rates from 30Hz up to 90Hz.
On the camera side, you get a 16Mp selfie camera and a triple rear camera: a 50Mp, f/1.8 main camera with a pair of 2Mp sensors – one macro and the other monochrome.
Finally, you get a 5000mAh battery with support for 33W wired charging. It runs Android 11 out of the box.
Here are the full specs:
Realme 9i 5G
The 5G version of the 9i is the latest phone in the line-up, though for now it’s only out in India.
Overall this is a similar phone to the regular 9i, though with a different camera design to the rest of the range.
It swaps to a 5G-capabale MediaTek Dimensity 810 chipset, and drops charging down to a slower 18W. It ships with Android 12 though, which not all of these phones do.
Realme 9 Pro
The 9 Pro is more exciting. That starts with the design, which is essentially identical to the 9 Pro+.
This is the hero colour – called ‘Sunrise Blue’ – which features tech that Realme is calling a ‘Light Shift Design’. It sounds similar to the colour-changing glass we’ve already seen this year in theVivo V23 series, and in this case the blue phone will turn red when exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet light, returning to blue when it’s out of the light.
You can see the colour-changing design in motion in this short promo video shared by Realme:
The phone is also available in Midnight Black and Aurora Green, which are more straightforward colours, without the light shifting tech.
On the inside, the 9 Pro is powered by a Snapdragon 695 chipset, with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB storage.
The display is a 6.6in LCD with 120Hz refresh rate, which makes it a pretty big phone – but that leaves space for a sizeable 5000mAh battery and 33W charging.
Finally, the rear camera setup consists of a 64Mp main lens plus 8Mp ultra-wide and a third 2Mp lens.
As for software, the Realme 9 Pro series launches with RealmeUI 3.0, which is in turn based on Android 12.
Here are the full specs:
Realme 9 Pro+
The 9 Pro+ looks similar on the surface, but underneath it has a few extra bells and whistles. We’ve actuallyreviewed the 9 Pro+, so read that if you want to know what we think of the phone.
There are a few key differences from the 9 Pro. For one, strangely enough, it’s a little smaller. The screen is only 6.4in, and also drops to 90Hz refresh rate – but to make up for that, it’s an AMOLED panel, which nets you both an in-display fingerprint scanner and, oddly, the option to use it as a heartrate tracker.
The phone as a whole is also smaller and lighter as a result of the smaller display, though this does then lead to a smaller 4500mAh battery. Charging is faster at 60W though.
The 9 Pro+ uses a MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset, which is paired with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage.
The triple rear camera is similar, but with one major upgrade: the main lens uses the 50Mp Sony IMX766 sensor, together with optical image stabilisation (OIS) – the same setup used to great effect in theOnePlus Nord 2, our currentfavourite mid-range phone.
Here are the full specs:
Take a look at our roundups of thebest budget Chinese phonesandbest budget phonesthat see the rivals that Realme will need to overcome – or thebest Realme phonesto see what the brand has managed so far.
Author: Dominic Preston, Contributor
Previously Tech Advisor’s Deputy Editor, Dom covers everything that runs on electricity, from phones and laptops to wearables, audio, gaming, smart home, and streaming.
