Redmi kick-starts the 9 series in India again with a new Activ version because why not
Redmi is an electronics brand that seems to love the number 9 above all others. It has instituted various lines of devices under this number in China, India and globally, many of which are define conflicting specs in a variety of handsets.
On that note, the Xiaomi subsidiary has also introduced a number of 9-series variants in India, the Power, Prime and vanilla 9 included. Now, it has doubled down on this activity by introducing new versions of this device, as well as the super-affordable 9i and 9A.
Furthermore, the new 9A and 9i Sport have the exact same specs and color options as the existing (and still available) variants. The only difference here is the P2i treatment for splash resistance: the budget version of an IPxx ingress-protection rating.
The Redmi 9i and 9A Sport variants even stay at the same price, starting at INR 6,999 (~US$94) for a newly splash-proof 9A with 2GB of RAM. The 9 Activ, at least, does change in this respect, as it is the first of its sub-series to have 6GB of RAM (with 128GB of internal storage), now priced at INR 10,999 (~$148). However, its 4/64GB alternative still costs INR 9,499 (~$128).
It also offers different Carbon Black, Coral Green and Metallic Purple colorways. However, the rest of this "new" 9 Activ remains exactly the same as the original phone. Therefore, on one hand, Redmi seems truly committed to keeping cost-effective and obviously popular smartphones on Indian shelves.
On the other, its persistence in keeping the myriad 9s alive is just getting odd now, as the 10 series should now be poised to supersede it in any case.
