Xiaomi Redmi 9T review

Competition

Depending on where you are based, the low-end smartphone market could be full of choices, or it could be quite limited. But there are some mainstream offerings that stand out from the crowd and can challenge the Redmi 9T, which shapes up to be an excellent all-rounder for the asking price. The Poco M3 was a great all-rounder back in December last year, but the smartphone market moves fast, so we have a couple of new competitors to go through.

Obviously, the first alternative to consider is the Redmi 9T's close sibling - the Poco M3. The latter packs pretty much everything the 9T has but misses on the NFC chip and the ultrawide camera. As we've already established in the review, the ultrawide camera might not be worth the extra cash the 9T wants, but if the NFC chip is on top of your priority list for its use for contactless payments, the 9T is the only choice.

Keep in mind that the Redmi 9T sells for around €140 while the Poco M3's price has gone down quite a bit since December 2020, so it would now set you back just €120.

Xiaomi Poco M3 • Realme 7i • Samsung Galaxy A21s • OnePlus Nord N100

A very close competitor from Samsung's camp would be the Galaxy A21s. It hovers between the €150-160 range and offers comparable hardware. Its main advantage is the overall camera performance and the fact that it runs a more familiar One UI software. Even though battery life is excellent, it falls short compared to the 9T's huge 6,000 mAh unit. Xiaomi's contender also has excellent loudspeakers, a higher-res screen, reverse charging, snappier chipset and offers twice the base storage and RAM.

The Realme 7i is a viable option as well, given its aggressive pricing and similar hardware. And despite the Realme 7i being pricier (€160-170), it lacks the 1080p+, 90Hz display, stereo loudspeakers, and has a considerably smaller 5,000 mAh battery. Also, the 7i misses on some nifty goodies like NFC, infrared port and FM radio.

Lastly, the OnePlus Nord N100 may seem a bit pricey for this list with a starting price of €189, but you can find one for way less outside of OnePlus' official web store. We've seen a couple of offers for around €140 brand new. This puts it in a competitive position against the Redmi 9T. Even with an inferior Snapdragon 490, the handset offers an arguably smoother experience with its 90Hz display, which in turn has a lower resolution at 720p.

The clean-ish Android could be a deciding factor for some, while the smaller battery can be a deal-breaker to others. Still, the Nord N100 is the only handset in this price range that also offers dual stereo speakers, NFC and FM radio all at once. The good news is that the NFC chip isn't market-dependent.

Verdict

Despite the relatively higher price of the Redmi 9T compared to the Poco M3, it still holds well against the competition due to several key features that are hard to come across in a single package. We are talking adequate SoC performance, 4GB/64GB base memory, an excellent set of stereo speakers, a high-resolution display, humongous 6,000 mAh battery, IR port, FM radio and dedicated microSD card slot.

Yes, some of the devices top the Redmi 9T with a better overall camera quality or smoother 90Hz displays, but if you find yourself in this price bracket, you are most likely looking for the most practical features, and the Redmi 9T seems to touch all bases. High refresh rate displays are nice, but they also belong to higher-class devices.

Pros

• Large 6.53" screen with 1080p resolution
• Standout design
• Record-breaking battery life
• Excellent stereo loudspeakers
• Generally good main camera performance
• Standalone microSD, IR port, FM radio, reverse wired charging and NFC (market-dependant)

Cons

• Occasional UI lag
• Unsatisfactory ultrawide camera performance
• Mediocre video recording