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Xiaomi Mi 9 doesn’t record in 4K by default, but that’s going to change
June 01, 2025
The competition in the smartphone market is insane. When even a tiny edge matters, manufacturers have a strong incentive to paint their products in the best possible light. Sometimes, that means cheating.
In most cases,companies cheat in speed benchmarks, like AnTuTu. This time around,Xiaomiis being accused onRedditand other social media of cheating in the DxOMark tests of its new Xiaomi Mi 9 camera.
What’s going on
The Mi 9 unit that DxOMark tested had 4K video recording enabled out of the box, which allowed it to get a very high score in the video category. As perDxOMark’s analysis:
The record video score allowed the Mi 9 to climb the general DxOMark ranks. The Mi 9 currently boasts the second highest score overall, beating phones likeApple iPhone XS Max,Galaxy Note 9, andGoogle Pixel 3.
However, the Mi 9 does not actually ship with 4K video recording enabled by default, at least not right now.
We were able to verify this on ourMi 9 reviewunit – out of the box, the phone was set at 1080p 30fps. The demo units Xiaomi had on display at MWC were also set to 1080p (see the image at the top).
4K default coming as day-one update
When we asked Xiaomi about the issue, the company confirmed the Mi 9 units currently on sale in China default to 1080p video recording. However, an OTA update will switch the default video resolution to 4K .
A Xiaomi spokesman shared the following statement:
Xiaomi seems to have crossed some wires when it comes the Mi 9, which justdebutedin European markets like Spain and the U.K. The phone wasintroducedin China less than a week ago, which is slightly unusual for Xiaomi. The company used to take months to release its phones outside of China, so it might have rushed to get its global software ready on the Mi 9.
The statement doesn’t really explain why Xiaomi would release early software on phones that are already on sale in China. But the company is known for moving fast, and occasionally breaking things, when it comes to software updates.
In addition to this, DxOMark toldAndroid Authoritythat it requires manufacturers to confirm in writing that the phones it tests are functionally identical to the phones that go on sale. “If we don’t have a firm commitment, we just don’t publish. If someone does once fool us, we can retest and republish it,” a company representative told us.
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