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Why is the Xiaomi Mi 9 so grossly underrated?
August 17, 2025
TheXiaomi Mi 9has been out for just over five months now and it’s my firm belief that it’s one of the most underrated phones on the market. Despite its amazing value,here in the U.K.theMi 9is criminally overlooked.
As a university student, value is incredibly important to me, and after using the phone as my daily driver for a little while, I want to show some love to the often ignored budget flagship that unfortunately sits buried underneath a pile of loud and exciting new devices.
One-upping OnePlus
Remember whenOnePlusoffered top tier specs for ridiculously low prices? Xiaomi is smashing theBBKcompany in that department right now. Not that you’d know, because OnePlus’ voice seems to have a far greater reach than Xiaomi’s in the U.K. and Europe. While Xiaomi’s growth in Europehas been rapid, the OnePlus brand’s “flagship killers” carry a certain prestige and rabid fan following that eludes the superior value Mi 9.
And you can’t argue with the price-performance ratio offered by the Mi 9. For under £400 you geta flagship Qualcomm processorand 6GB RAM paired with 64GB storage, which ismore than enoughand keeps the phone running buttery smooth without a hitch. I have even started playing somemobile gamesin my spare time, since the Mi 9 can handle them with little effort. This is just another example of where the Xiaomi Mi 9 performs well and you don’t notice it. The device doesn’t produce crazy figures in benchmarks or unseen FPS figures, it blends in with the crowd, to its detriment.
Many people look at thefour-digit long stringon the spec sheet to determine what kind of battery performance they should expect, but it’s not always that simple. A 3,300mAh battery looks tinycompared to the 4,000mAhwe’re used to seeing on similarly-sized phones. However, MIUI’sbattery managementtools make the cell feel larger than it really is — I get a full day of usage without issue. This also means that the phone manufacturer can fit more tech into the chassis since less of the phone is being taken up bybattery cells.
Read more:Xiaomi Mi 9 specs
On top of this, the Mi 9 also offers fast charging in the form of Quick Charge 4+. This means speedy top-ups at 27W. Want wireless charging? Well, Xiaomi has you covered on that front, too. 20W fast wireless charging is built into the device, which is faster than theHUAWEI P30 Pro,Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, and theiPhone Xs. Despite this, Xiaomi’s superior charging tech doesn’t get anywhere near as much lip service in tech circles.
Things get even better in the camera department. How manyphones at this pricegive you three great rear camera sensors with different focal lengths, including a flagshipSony IMX 58648MP main shooter, a 12MP telephoto sensor, and a 16MP ultra-wide camera? These extra circles on the back aren’t just for decoration and to flesh out the spec sheet, they’re the real deal and the results speak for themselves.Ultra-wide camerasare now a necessity for me, and so many phones at this price point have missed out on them in the past. The Mi 9 doesn’tjustbring that focal length to the table, but quality, along with it.
Little things matter
The Mi 9 might not be pretty to everyone, but its utilitarian minimalism is bliss to me. It makes me feel like I have everything I need right there in my hand. No frills, no extra clutter, and no gimmicks. The 6.39-inchAMOLEDdisplay is excellent, delivering great colors, deep contrast, and good viewing angles, too. The water-drop notch is unintrusive and the chin is super thin. While we’re talking about the physical features of the Mi 9, having aGoogle Assistant buttonis really handy, as is the subtly curved glass back.
It’s the little things, too — from the fairly skinny chin at the bottom, to the well placed notification LED,in-display fingerprint sensor,IR blaster, and960fps slow-motion. Some of these are rare even in high-end smartphones and here they are in a phone with a mid-tier price point, and yet, again, no one is talking about it. I also really miss notification LEDs in high end smartphones in 2019. The fact that I barely need to glance down at my phone to see that I have a notification is a huge deal for me, and the Mi 9 has it.
I also want to clear up one of the big complaints thrown at the phone — the software.
MIUIhas been known, in the past, to be a mess, withads in certain areas of the OSand alotof bloat applications. Thankfully, in Europe, we don’t get in-OS ads, and the over-the-top aesthetic changes have been toned down to create a much cleaner looking interface. There’s also adark modewhich I’ve been taking advantage of. Software, in my mind, is no longer a concern for Xiaomi Mi-series devices. Xiaomi listened to the community and improved its product, but again, Xiaomi has received zero credit.
MIUI has certainly come on leaps and bounds in recent months, and there are ways to fix the remaining niggles. I useNova launcheron my Mi 9 to combat theapp drawer-less home screenand theBorealis icon packto add a bit of style.
Speak up, Xiaomi
In the affordable flagship market, Xiaomi has stiff competition.OnePlus,ASUS,Honor, and even Xiaomi’s Redmi brand. TheZenfone 6, in particular, got heaps of hype for its flip-camera mechanism and large 5,000mAh battery. OnePlus draws eyes from around the world for every release.Redmi’s K20 Prois marketed for its great pricing. All of these drown out the best all-round phone in the class, the Mi 9.
Of course, there’s also the newly releasedMi 9T, which is a more affordable, slightly downgraded, but even classier spin-off of the Mi 9. I gave the Mi 9T aglowing reviewand I think it loudly demonstrates Xiaomi’s excellent skill of making all-round great smartphones. But it too shares the problem of being overlooked while theRedmi K20, its counterpart for the Indian market alongside the more powerfulK20 Pro, is catching fire. The K20 looks set to perform far better in India due to brand recognition. It’s a real shame that the same can’t be said for Europe and ironically, in creating popular sub-brands in both Redmi andPocophone, Xiaomi has effectively overshadowed its own mainline Mi series.
There are a few problems with the original Mi 9. It’s not a perfect phone, but it’s grossly underrated, not only because of its hardware, but because the smartphone market’s rapid release schedule leaves no room for subtlety. Next to flashier phones with aggressive marketing and excessive pre-launch hype, the Mi 9’s understated brilliance never stood a chance.
It’s a fantastic platform, and for me, its vast array of hardware features outweighs the compromises. If you’re looking for the best value for money phone with top-tier specs, the Mi 9 is it.
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