Realme 9i has grabbed the headlines for close to two months now. We saw renders of the smartphone that gave us an overview of the design including the rear camera island. Thereafter, leaks around the smartphone's RAM, storage, and color options came. And just as the Realmi 9i went official in Vietnam, the Indian website carried a few more details.
As for the India launch, the smartphone entered the Realme India website, hinting of an upcoming launch. Realme Vice President Madhav Sheth also teased the device alongside the Realme Book. A tipster named MRKT tweeted a screenshot of the Realme India website where the Realme 9i moniker can be spotted.
realme 9i got listed at realme Store, launch imminent. #realme9i #realme #Realme9ProPlus #realme9Series #MRKT pic.twitter.com/jyboMmu6TAJanuary 7, 2022
Realme 9i expected pricing and availability
Realme 9i Vietnam variant is available at a price of VND 6,290,000 that roughly converts to around Rs 20,500. It clearly suggests that the device will be available in India under the price bracket of Rs 20,000. The smartphone is being shipped in two different colors - Black Quartz and Green Quartz. Speculations are that we can see more color variants of the device at the time of India launch.
Realme 9i expected specifications
As the device has already made an official debut in Vietnam, we have a rough idea of what Realme is going to deliver in terms of specs in its new offering. The Realme 9i features a 6.6-inch IPS LCD display coupled with a 90Hz refresh rate and 480 nits of peak brightness.
The smartphone houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset. It packs a 6GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB UFS 2.1 onboard storage that is further expandable up to 1TB via microSD card. The device also has 5GB VRAM.
In terms of optics, Realme 9i flaunts a triple rear camera setup comprising a 50MP primary shooter, 2MP secondary shooter, and a 2MP portrait shooter. The device sports a 16MP front camera for attending video calls and capturing selfies. Security features in the smartphone include a side-mounted fingerprint sensor.
It draws power from a 5000 mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging. Connectivity features offered in the device include 4G VoLTE, GPS, WiFi, 3.5mm audio jack, Bluetooth v5.0, and USB Type-C port.
If one were to compare the upcoming device with its predecessor, the Realme 8i, it does make an immediate impact as a Snapdragon chipset has replaced a MediaTek one. Of course, one can never be sure about the SoC that many of these phone makers decide on while launching in India. Look at the Samsung Galaxy S21 Fan Edition phone that arrived recently.
Furthermore, the expandable storage has been increased in Realme 9i to a considerable extent. Users are going to get a bit disappointed in terms of refresh rate as Realme 9i offers 90Hz, while its predecessor, Realme 8i has a 120Hz refresh rate with the same screen dimensions.
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