Xiaomi Mi 9 vs Mi 9 Lite in 2021: Which One Is Better?

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Photo by Shirley Hirst from Pixabay

Luis Silva (August 2020, updated: February 2021)

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Introduction

While Xiaomi's Mi 9 Lite hit stores in September of 2019, Xiaomi's Mi 9 went on sale in March of 2019.

In this article, we see how the Mi 9 and the Mi 9 Lite compare to each other to help you decide and see which one of these is the right one for you.

If you have the time, click here to skip the spoilers and continue to the full comparison.

You'll rarely (if ever) find these two with the same price tag. Remember that when you're comparing the two models.

You'll also see down below a "Tek-Score" for every section that we analyze. We evaluated every quantifiable specification, so you can better understand the difference between the two. You'll find a global score at the end, which can help you compare to other phones if you aren't sure about these two.  ? 

This score is based on research from Globalwebindex.com on what buyers are looking for when purchasing a smartphone.

For additional information regarding our smartphone comparisons, check this FAQ.

You're going to find a red or green bar next to some features. That's to show how they relate to the ones from similarly priced smartphones.  ? 

Here is their competitors' full list: i  but we only include smartphones with price tags from -20% to +20%.

Feel free to click any feature title to check out several top 10 tables for any budget.

Price*			vs.
Device	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Release Date	2019, March	2019, September	0y.
OS Updates	1 year	1 year	0y.
Security Updates	4 years	4 years	0y.

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

Performance

The Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite is available with the Snapdragon 710 processor, while the Xiaomi Mi 9 brings the Snapdragon 855 processor.

Now about the graphics chipset, while the former has an Adreno 616, the latter features an Adreno 640.

On the multicore portion of Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance, the Mi 9 was, on average, 77% quicker while finishing its tests. This should be a no-brainer here.  ? 

One can entitle the Mi 9 as a lower high-end and the Mi 9 Lite as a low to mid-range device.

They all were released with the Android 9 (Pie) and MIUI 10 OS.

Performance*			vs.
Features	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
SoC	Snapdragon 855	Snapdragon 710
Graphics	Adreno 640	Adreno 616
Geekbench 5 Score	2577	1456	-1121
OS	Android 9 (Pie) and MIUI 10	Android 9 (Pie) and MIUI 10
Tek-Score	6.3	4.4	-1.9

*Reference: Apple iPhone 12.

Display

They both have a 6.3-inch AMOLED display. Which one would you choose? Most people seem to prefer AMOLED for its saturated colors and higher contrast.

These phones also share the same amount of pixels: 1080x2340 Full HD.

Just a small drop may shatter your phone, so be aware: The Mi 9 Lite features a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 display. The Mi 9 has a previous generation Gorilla Glass 6.

If you value an Always-On display, you'll be glad to find it in both of them.

When it comes to outdoor visibility, both can do about 620 nits.  ? 

The Mi 9 can do HDR10, and the Mi 9 Lite does HDR.

If you're leaning towards the Mi 9, you should know that 89% of its rivals can play HDR content and have an AMOLED screen. However, only 21% of them have over 60hz of refresh rate, and only 16% of them feature Gorilla Glass 6 or Victus.

Is the Mi 9 Lite a solid choice? None of its competitors have over 60hz of refresh rate, and only 7% of them feature Gorilla Glass 6 or Victus.

Display Density (DPIs)*			vs.
Features	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Size	6.3	6.3	0.0
Screen Type	AMOLED	AMOLED
Resolution (px)	1080x2340	1080x2340	0
Refresh Rate	60hz	60hz	0
Dots per Inch	409.08	409.08	0.00
Always-On-Display	Yes	Yes
Notch	Teardrop	Teardrop
Peak Brightness	620 nits	600 nits	-20
HDR	HDR10	HDR
Sub Tek-Score	7.9	7.9	0.0
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 6	Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Tek-Score	7.6	6.4	-1.2

*Reference: Sony Xperia 1.

Cameras

What about its shooters? The Mi 9 has a whopping 48 MP camera with an aperture of f/1.8, a 27mm wide-angle lens, two flash LEDs, and HDR capabilities. It can record videos at up to 2160p.

You'll also find two other cameras, one with 12 MP, an aperture of f/2.2 plus a 54mm telephoto lens. And another with 16 MP (f/2.2) with a 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens.

For your information: If you zoom in and crop a 48 Megapixels photo, you can get 2x of optical zoom: by trimming it into a 12 Megapixels photo.

Want to know about its selfie capabilities? It has a 20 MP (f/2.0) shooter and a 1/3" sensor.

DxOMark reviewed this camera and gave it 111 points. And if you take into account the telephoto and wide-angle lenses, you'll end up with a score of 125**. You can check their review if you click here.

Before moving on, you should know that all of its rivals can record videos in 4K or more and have an ultra-wide-angle lens, and 84% of them feature Optical Image Stabilization.

The standard camera on the back of the Mi 9 Lite has a whopping 48 MP sensor and a 25mm, f/1.8 aperture, wide-angle lens. It also has one flash LED and HDR capabilities. When it comes to recording videos, it can do 2160p. There's also an extra dual sensor with 8 MP (f/2.2 plus a 13mm ultra-wide-angle lens) and 2 MP that works as a depth sensor, working together to give more freedom when framing shots.

Just so you know: You can take a 48 Megapixels photo, zoom in and crop, and get 2x optical zoom. You'll get a 12 Megapixels photo, just like the Mi 9.

Xiaomi included a generous 32 MP (f/2.0) sensor for selfies and a 26 mm wide-angle lens.

I was curious about what DxOMark had to say about this camera. They didn't review it yet, but we can place it at about 97* points. By adding its wide-angle lens, we get a score of 110** points.

Winding it up, 80% of its rivals can record videos in 4 or 8K, and all of them have an ultra-wide-angle lens.

Overall, I'm sure the Xiaomi Mi 9 has a better camera.

One can place the Mi 9 more like a lower high-end and the Mi 9 Lite more as an upper mid-range.

What I really like about the Mi 9 is the 2x telephoto lens. This gives you an extra bit of freedom when taking your photos.

*DxOMark is a well-known market reference when it comes to camera benchmarking. Too bad they don't get a chance to test most of the cameras out there. So whenever I come across one such camera, I take every hardware specs (like lenses, sensor size, OIS, aperture, and so on) and give a comparable score. The last time I've checked this formula, some cameras had a 2 points (more or less) error threshold.  ? 

**Please take this with a grain of salt, particularly on mid-end cameras with less than 40MP and no zoom lens. They just changed their protocol, and they don't have enough reviews for me to refine the pre-update camera rates.

Picture Quality*			vs.
Primary Camera	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Megapixels	48	48	0
Aperture	1.8	1.8	0.0
Lens	27mm	25mm	-2
Lens Type	Wide-Angle	Wide-Angle
Flash	2	1	-1
HDR	Yes	Yes
OIS	No	No
Video	2160	2160	0
Score	125	110	-15

*Reference: Huawei Mate 40 Pro.

Extra Camera(s)	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite	vs.
Megapixels	12	8	-4
Aperture	2.2	2.2	0.0
Lens	54mm (2x zoom)	13mm	-41
Lens Type	Telephoto lens	Ultra-wide-Angle
Megapixels	16	2	-14
Aperture	2.2	-
Lens	13mm	-
Lens Type	Ultra-wide-Angle	Depth Sensor
Score	14	13	-1

Selfie Camera	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite	vs.
Megapixels	20	32	12
Aperture	2.0	2.0	0.0
Lens	-	26mm

	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite	vs.
Tek-Score	7.4	6.5	-0.9

Body

Despite not having the same height, they share their extent: 74 mm (2.92 inches).

They have about the same depth: 7 mm (0.28 inches) vs. 8 mm (0.32 inches).

The glass rear on these phones makes them feel great on the hand. The Mi 9 weighs 173 g. (6.10 oz), while the other is 6 g. (0.24 oz) heavier. But because screen size also matters, I've created an adapted score for a "weight to display size" ratio. The Mi 9 got 6.4, and that's another way of saying it has a pretty nice weight for its screen size. In the meantime, the Mi 9 Lite has 5.6, so nothing to state here.  ? 

You can purchase the Xiaomi Mi 9 in Lavender Violet, Piano Black, and Ocean Blue. And you can pick the Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite in Pearl White, Onyx Grey, and Aurora Blue.

Do you value a fingerprint scanner? Both devices included it.

If you're looking for some kind of waterproof phone, you should check out the competition, like the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

Looks*			vs.
Body	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Size	157 x 74 x 7 mm (5.54 x 2.61 x 0.25 in)	156 x 74 x 8 mm (5.50 x 2.61 x 0.28 in)	11026
Weight	173 g. (6.10 oz)	179 g. (6.31 oz)	6
Build	Front and back glass	Front and back glass
Colors	Lavender Violet, Piano Black, and Ocean Blue	Pearl White, Onyx Grey, and Aurora Blue
Screen To Body Ratio	83.86%	84.40%	0.54
Disp.Size To Weight Score	6.4	5.6	-0.8
Looks	8.4/10	8.5/10	0.1
Waterproof	-	-
Biometrics	Under Display Fingerprint	Under Display Fingerprint
Tek-Score	2.9	2.6	-0.2

*100% = 4+ colors + front and back glass + S2BR: 86+%.

Battery

When it comes to battery life, in theory, the Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite, with its 4030 mAh of battery capacity, wins over the Xiaomi Mi 9, with only 3300 mAh of battery capacity, without a doubt. But how would both perform in a real-world scenario? If you do this experiment after a complete charge, that's what you can expect from the Mi 9:  ? 

• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll end up with 82% of the battery charge.
• For 1 hour of talking, 3 hours of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you'll get down to 66% left.
• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, you'll likely end up with 70% of the battery charge.

And this is what you'll get out of the Mi 9 Lite:

• From 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 1 hour of video playback, you should have 84% of the battery left for the rest of the day.
• By talking for 1 hour, browsing the web for 3 hours, and playing videos for 1 hour, this phone should end up with 70%.
• After 1 hour of talking, 1 hour of web browsing, and 3 hours of video playback, the phone will have 72% left for the rest of the day.

You shouldn't expect any real contrast here.

What's even better, the Mi 9 Lite is also beating most smartphones. Let's see if it still has a place on our top 10 list with the best battery life.

If one of these will end up being the one, you'll have quick-charging on your next phone: 27w for the Mi 9 and 18w for the Mi 9 Lite.

The Mi 9 also supports wireless charging at 20w.

What about having reverse wireless charging on your next phone? If you want it, you can try it with the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, for example.

Quick wireless charging must be one of Mi 9's most-loved features. You won't find many phones as fast at about its price.

Battery*			vs.
Features	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Capacity (mAh)	3300	4030	730
1h Talk + 1h Web + 1h Video	82% left	84% left	2
1h Talk + 3h Web + 1h Video	66% left	70% left	4
1h Talk + 1h Web + 3h Video	70% left	72% left	2
Bat. To Phone Size Score  ?	4.5	5.3	0.8
Sub Tek-Score	7.3	7.5	0.3
Fast Charging	27w	18w	-9
Wireless Charging	20w	No	-20
Tek-Score	7.1	6.4	-0.6

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy A31.

Storage

The Mi 9 comes equipped with 64GB of integrated storage and 6GB of RAM. There's no expandable storage. This shouldn't be an issue for most of us. Furthermore, other devices from this budget usually have more storage and more RAM. They average at 7GB of RAM and 125Gb of storage.

The Mi 9 Lite also offers 64GB of storage and 6GB of RAM. You can count on the MicroSD card to save the day.

Most people should be OK with only 64 GB of internal storage. However, if you love to have or record tons of videos, you'll find out that 64 GB won't be enough for you.

Storage*			vs.
Features	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
RAM (GB)	6GB	6GB	0
Internal (GB)	64GB	64GB	0
Micro SD	No	microSDXC (uses shared SIM slot)
Tek-Score	2.8	6.3	3.5

*Internal Storage + 256GB Memory Card (Max: 512GB).

Connectivity

Both phones have Bluetooth 5.0, so nothing special here. As for the NFC chips, both have them.

The Mi 9 Lite is the only phone here that still supports the good-old 3.5mm headphone jack. Just skip adapters on the Mi 9 and get a decent pair of wireless earbuds.

Both have a single network variant: LTE. If you want next-gen 5G connectivity, you should look at the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE instead.

Connectivity			vs.
Features	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Network	LTE	LTE
Bluetooth	5.0	5.0
NFC	Yes	Yes
3.5mm jack	No	Yes
Tek-Score	4.6	9.5	4.9

Price

The Xiaomi Mi 9 Lite clearly is a good value for its price, and with the right deal, it can be an impressive finding. The Xiaomi Mi 9 isn't more affordable, but it may still be a more reasonable choice.

Let's see if it really worths it or not.

Here are their recently updated prices:

I earn a small fee from qualifying purchases. It doesn't affect the price you pay nor my opinions, but it will mean a lot if you click on one of these buttons before purchasing your next phone. You'll be helping to take this to the next level.

Prices on eBay are in $US but Europe-based. You can click to check the prices in your country.

Prices marked with ! are from renewed/refurbished/carrier-locked phones (except eBay prices that, as a last resort, can be from bids or used devices).

How much of a "phone" can your money buy?
That's how much "score" you can get with $100 based on the global score that you'll see in the next section (higher is better).

Have you found better prices elsewhere? The formula is simple: score/price*100.

Value for money	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite	VS
Amazon	1.47	2.38	0.91
eBay	-	-	-
Best Buy	-	-	-
Wallmart	-	-	-

And this is the "The Best Smartphones On A Budget" list.

Want to know about that global rate? First, let me mention the average at their price range. The Mi 9 class is at 6.3, and the Mi 9 Lite 5.5.

Verdict: Does any of them really stand out?

Overall, these two aren't that far apart. But even if you don't value performance that much, you should be aware that the Mi 9 has a flagship processor. Obviously, performance isn't everything. The Mi 9 Lite has better battery life, should be free from storage issues, and is more user-friendly, as it still has a headphone jack. Aside from the slightly worse glass protection on the Mi 9 Lite, you shouldn't worry about its displays. Aside from that, the Mi 9 also has a telephoto lens.

Pros	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
#1	Performance	AMOLED
#2	AMOLED	Always-On-Display
#3	Always-On-Display	Cameras
#4	Cameras	Battery Life
#5	Fast Charging	Fast Charging
#6	Wireless Charging	MicroSD Slot
#7	Glass Protection	3.5mm Jack

Cons	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
#1	MicroSD Slot	Wireless Charging
#2	3.5mm Jack

Relative Score*			vs.
Global Score	Mi 9	Mi 9 Lite
Gaming Score	5.9	5.2	-0.7
Tek-Score	5.87	5.95	0.08

*Reference: Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra.

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