Xiaomi please bring the Mi 9 to India, OnePlus needs some competition

Xiaomi Mi 9 has a gradient finish and features a triple camera system on the back.

Just a couple of hours ago Xiaomi took the covers off the Mi 9 which is its defecto flagship phone for the year. And as unlikely it is, I think, Xiaomi should bring the Mi 9 to India and give some serious competition to OnePlus in India which now dominates the premium smartphone space. Even if that means, it is brought to India under the Poco branding. Here’s my argument.

Mi 9 is a brute of a package which would even give the likes of Samsung and Google a hard time

1. Best in class computing capabilities with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor with 6GB RAM with models being offered with up to a mind-boggling 12GB RAM and a game and turbo mode, which should make this like Captain Picard’s USS Enterprise E.
2. Class-leading charging capabilities on this phone can make sure that it can compete with OnePlus’s warp charge marketing. It can charge up to 27W over USB Type C, with additional capabilities of a 20W wireless charger and decently sized 3,300mAh battery which makes this one of the best phones in terms of battery life.
3. And then, like some of Huawei and Honor phones, it comes with a sexy gradient design and that’s going to make this phone a head turner. Whatever OnePlus brings, it has historically been more conservative in the looks department so this will be a first for a Xiaomi flagship.
4. It has a 6.39-inch Super AMOLED 1080p display with a water drop notch making sure it isn’t an eyesore. The Mi 8 and Poco F1 have much larger notch areas like the iPhone XS.

True flagship grade camera

One of the things that have always held back phones from Xiaomi has been their cameras in India. Its last true flagship in India was the Mi Mix 2 which had a single camera system which was a notch behind what OnePlus offered. Even with the Poco F1 with numerous software updates, it is clear Xiaomi has cracked the camera.

1. To begin things, Xiaomi has the marketing game sorted with the camera on the Mi 9. It has a triple camera system which is what many believe OnePlus will offer with the OnePlus 7.
2. Then it uses interesting sensors — the Sony IMX 586, 48MP module which resorts to pixel binning for a super large 1.6-micron pixel, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera which can be very useful and a 12-megapixel telephoto camera for a true optical zoom with a pretty bright f/2.2 aperture.
3. Selfies are not being forgotten on this phone. There is a 20-megapixel camera which can also do an AI-powered face-unlock.

Peripheral features are aplenty

The Xiaomi Mi 9 also comes with a bunch of features which can be very handy in day to day use.

1. Xiaomi has brought back the infrared sensor which can be used to control a number of appliances at home including the AC and TV.
2. It is one of the only phones in the market with a Dual GPS system which should make mapping more accurate.
3. There is an in-display scanner which can be used with services like Google Pay. This also helps keep the design clean on the phone with an abrasion on the back for the scanner and not extended chin for it on the front.
4. There is a dedicated button for the Google Assistant which is again not there in a lot of phones.
5. Mi UI 10 has also been optimised with a number of cool new features like dark mode for the same.

And all this makes it a true competitor to whatever OnePlus launches in India. It will have to go all out on marketing bit but with its distribution prowess, it can take on OnePlus. If it has to do that through the Poco brand, it should do that.