What we don’t like so much is that the fingerprint sensor here is rather hard to locate. That’s not necessarily a bad thing in our book, as in-display technology remains a beat slower than equivalent stand-alone sensors. Xiaomi has eschewed the use of an in-display fingerprint sensor with the Redmi Note 9, which is a clear money-saving measure. You can probably thank the phone’s huge battery for those last two stats. It’s rather tall at 162.3mm, particularly thick at 8.9mm, and really quite heavy at 199g. This is a pretty large phone for the price. The Forest Green and Midnight Grey models don’t look quite as snazzy. That’s the Polar White model we were sent, anyway. And to Xiaomi’s credit, it delivers the plastic aesthetic in the form of a striking eggshell blue frame finish and a rear panel that shifts from sky blue at the top to lavender at the bottom. You wouldn’t expect premium materials in the sub-£200 price category, of course. There isn’t so much as a hint of metal here, and the only glass you’ll find is the Gorilla Glass 5 panel that covers the front. When it comes to design, the Redmi Note 9 sits at the ‘functional plastic’ end of the spectrum.

Gorilla Glass 5 front, all-plastic body.

You can clearly expect to get yourself a hefty saving on Xiaomi’s new affordable contender.

While we’ll be treating those original prices as the norm here, we’d encourage you to keep your eyes peeled for deals. We’ve also seen the lower-capacity model going for the same low price on Amazon.

UK prices officially start from £179 for the 64GB model, moving up to £199 for the 128GB model.Īt the time of writing, however, Xiaomi was running a 10th anniversary sale whereby the top-spec model could be picked up for just £159, along with a free 10,000mAh Redmi Power Bank. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 first hit shops on May 12, 2020. Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 (Image credit: Future)

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