The smartphone war between Chinese brands is ongoing. Especially now that people are drawn into them, thanks to the incredible value they can offer for the price.
One of the major contenders is Xiaomi, who just recently released the new Redmi Note 9S — a feature-packed smartphone in the sub-Php10k price category.
This device has pretty much covered all the bases so you can have the complete smartphone experience without having to spend the price of a midrange or a high-end one.
But as I said earlier, Xiaomi is in a war with other brands, including Huawei. With that, here we also have the Huawei Nova 7i to take on the Note 9S. Coming from a popular line of Android smartphones, this year’s iteration has a lot of features that aims to justify its price tag.
With that, we’ll see which between the two is better in our Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S versus Huawei Nova 7i specifications and features comparison.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S | Huawei Nova 7i | |
Operating System | Android 10 MIUI 11 GMS | Android 10 EMUI 10.0.1 HMS |
SIM | Dual SIM Dual Standby | Dual SIM Dual Standby (Hybrid) |
Display | 6.67-inch FHD+ IPS 2400 x 1080 pixel resolution ~394ppi 91% screen-to-body ratio Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | 6.4-inch FHD+ LCD 2310 x 1080 pixel resolution ~398ppi ~90.6% screen-to-body ratio |
Processor | 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G octa-core | 2.27GHz Huawei Kirin 810 octa-core |
RAM | 4GB/6GB | 8GB |
GPU | Adreno 618 | Mali-G52 MP6 |
Storage | 64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 expandable via microSD | 128GB UFS 2.1 expandable via NM card up to 256GB |
Front Camera | 16-megapixel Punch-hole 120fps slow-mo selfie | 16-megapixel Punch-hole |
Rear Camera | 48-megapixel (f/1.8) 8-megapixel (ultra-wide, f/2.2) 5-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (depth sensor) PDAF LED flash AI Scene Detection Ultra Nightscape mode up to 4K@30fps up to 720p@960fps slow-mo | 48-megapixel (f/1.8) 8-megapixel (ultra wide) 2-megapixel (macro) 2-megapixel (depth sensor) PDAF LED flash AI Scene Detection 4K video recording Portrait mode Slow-mo |
Audio | Headphone jack Single speaker | Headphone jack Single loudspeaker |
Security | Side-mounted fingerprint scanner Face unlock | Side-mounted fingerprint scanner Face unlock |
Connectivity | 4G LTE WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Bluetooth 5.0 GPS, A-GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BDS, NavIC IR blaster USB Type-C | 4G LTE, VoLTE WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band Bluetooth 5.0 GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, QZSS, Galileo USB Type-C |
Others | P2i splash proof | n/a |
Dimensions | 165.75 x 76.68 x 8.8mm | 159.2 x 76.3 x 8.7mm |
Weight | 209g | 183g |
Colors | Aurora Blue Glacier White Interstellar Black | Sakura Pink Crush Green Midnight Black |
Battery | 5,020mAh 22.5W fast charging | 4,200mAh 40W Huawei SuperCharge |
Price | 4GB/64GB: Php10,490 6GB/128GB: Php11,990 | Php13,990 |
It appears that our Redmi Note 9S and the Nova 7i specs comparison ends up pretty close, as they have their respective leads over each other. So to help you decide which one to get, let’s see the pros and cons of each device.
Let’s start with the Huawei Nova 7i. Its most important lead over the Redmi Note 9S is in the processor department. As per a lot of performance reviews and benchmarks, the Kirin 810 CPU appears to be faster and more powerful than the new Snapdragon 720G chipset.
The Nova 7i also comes with a flagship-level 8GB of RAM and an ultra-fast 40W charging support. On the other hand, the Redmi Note 9S’s top model only has 6GB of memory and settles for the 22.5W charging.
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Next stop, we have the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S. Right away, its biggest advantage over the Nova 7i is its Google Mobile Services support. This means that Google apps like Gmail and YouTube are still usable. The Google Play Store is also here so you can download a wide array of available apps — wider than what’s available in the AppGallery of Huawei Mobile Services.
It may have a slower charger, but the Note 9S does have a bigger 5,020mAh battery. That’s significantly larger than the 4,200mAh battery of the competition.
Bottom line is, if you want the best possible performance, the faster Kirin 810 chipset and generous 8GB of memory of the Huawei Nova 7i can provide better performance than the competition.
However, the lack of GMS support can be a big hassle, unless you are techie enough to sideload it yourself. So if you want to save yourself from the hurdle, you can get the Redmi Note 9S instead. Other than saving money, you’d also be getting a larger battery and pretty much the same set of specs as the Nova 7i.