Redmi 9 launch teased for India: Budget Xiaomi smartphone with MIUI 11, MediaTek Helio G80 processor, and quad-camera setup

It appears smartphone fans in India will soon be able to get their hands on a new mobile champion in the form of the Redmi 9 smartphone from Xiaomi. The official Twitter account for Redmi India has been teasing followers with a post stating that a new Redmi smartphone was going to be launched on August 4 at 12 noon, and there is an image below the text with some obvious clues about what device is going to make an appearance.

The smartphone outline drawing in the image shows a central waterdrop notch for the presumed selfie camera, thus further ruling out the notion that it could be the Redmi Note 9 as some claimed, as that has a punch-hole cutout in the top-left corner and has already been launched in India by Xiaomi anyway. The shadow crossing the display can be read as “NINE”, so it’s obviously the Redmi 9 that Indian users will be introduced to, possibly via Amazon Prime considering the rest of the teaser text.

The Redmi 9 is a great device that should do well on the Indian market. The budget smartphone comes with a 6.53-inch FHD+ display, 8-core MediaTek Helio G80 chip, base 3 GB or 4 GB of RAM depending on the market, Android 10-based MIUI 11 software, and a surprising quad-camera system on the rear consisting of a 13 MP lens + 8 MP ultra wide-angle sensor + 5 MP macro lens + 2 MP depth sensor. A price estimate for the Redmi 9 in India has suggested a figure of ₹11,790 (US$158) for the upcoming Xiaomi smartphone.