A couple of weeks back, Realme India unveiled its Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 5G Speed Edition in India. The Realme 9 5G is a standard 5G variant with a starting price of Rs 14999 for the base variant. At the same time, the Realme 9 5G SE is a more powerful variant. The Realme 9 5G SE smartphone comes with Rs 19999 for the base variant. The Realme 9 Series includes other smartphones like the Realme 9i, Realme 9 Pro 5G, and the Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G, Realme 9 5G SE in India. Here, Realme 9i is the budget phone under the Realme 9 Series.
Realme 9 5G, Realme 9 5G Speed Edition: Price in India
As an introductory offer, the vanilla Realme 9 5G comes with a starting price tag of Rs 14999 for the base variant with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage. There is another variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. This variant of Realme 9 5G comes with a price tag of Rs 17499 in India. Beside this, the Chinese smartphone earlier launched the budget Realme 9i smartphone. This Realme 9i comes with a starting price of Rs 12999.
On the other hand, the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition India is a more powerful variant under the Realme 9 Series. The Realme 9 5G SE comes with Rs 19999 for the base variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. While the top-end variant of Speed Edition features 6 GB RAM and 128GB storage. This variant of Realme 9 5G SE comes with a price tag of Rs 22999 in India.
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Introductory Offers:
The Chinese smartphone makers offer both Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 5G Speed Edition with discount offers. SBI and ICICI Bank cardholders can get an instant discount of Rs 1500 on the Realme 9 5G smartphone. At the same time, this Speed Edition model is available with an instant discount of Rs 2000. Both the smartphones are already available for sale on the Realme India website and Flipkart along with budget phone Realme 9i.
Realme 9 5G Speed: Price Justification
With the launch of Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 5G Speed Edition, the lineup of smartphones has become quite complex in India. It has become quite confusing as there are several models under different series. Each model overlaps with the other in terms of price. Realme 9 series starts with the Realme 9i, the budget phone. Whereas, the Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G is the top-most variant under the Realme 9 Series. The number series smartphone models are the all-rounder yet again. Here, this number series Realme mobile phone comes with multiple options. Similar is the case with the newly launched series.
The newly launched Realme 9 5G and Realme 9 5G SE will sit above the Realme 9i. As mentioned above, Realme 9i is the budget phone under the Realme 9 Series. However, these mobile phones will have to settle below the recently launched Realme 9 Pro 5G and the Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G. However, the SE models will overlap with the Realme 9 Pro 5G in terms of price. Let’s take a first look at the Realme 9 5G SE smartphone.
Realme 9 5G Speed Edition: First Impressions
The all-new Realme 9 5G Speed Edition is a more premium offering from the Chinese smartphone brand. The Speed Edition smartphone is available in two variants, and let’s check if it can offer good value as its predecessor. The Realme 9 SE smartphone is expected to take on the likes of the new Redmi Note 11 Pro and Motorola Moto G71.
Realme 9 5G Speed Edition: Box content
In terms of box contents, the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition smartphone gets a mobile unit, a TPU back case, 30W fast charger, USB Type C charging Cable, and a SIM ejector tool. In addition to this, there are some user manuals and other read material. Furthermore, Realme is pre-applying an adhesive screen protector on the mobile unit.
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Appearance:
Let’s take the first look at the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition India design. The latest Realme smartphone is nothing special in terms of design. The Chinese smartphone brand offers a relatively simple plastic body, and the Realme smartphone comes with a slightly rounded frame and curved edges for the back panel. The only notable design feature is the projecting metal rectangle on the back, which houses the phone’s three cameras and flash.
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Colour options:
Realme 9 5G Speed Edition smartphone is available in two color options, including the Azure Glow and Starry Glow options. We got the Azure Glow color variant, pearlescent with lilac-mauve shade. This color-shifting appears as we move the rear panel under the light. The other color variant seems to get the solid-purplish-blue color accent.
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Physical Design:
In terms of physical design changes, we can’t find any. Thankfully, Realme has not added any huge brand slogan. Compared to previous models, the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition seems quite bland and dated. The latest Realme phone is 8.5mm thick and 199g in weight. Realme claims that the phone’s corners and edges have been reinforced to lessen the likelihood of the display shattering on contact.
However, there is no information about the glass protection used. Realme claims that the smartphone will be able to withstand spills. Although, there is no IP rating on the Realme Speed Edition. This Realme smartphone is quite handy and comfortable to hold.
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Display:
Realme 9 5G Speed Edition sports a 6.6-inch Full-HD+ IPS LCD display. The smartphone gets a relatively large camera hole on the top-left corner. Furthermore, this display gets a screen resolution of 1080×2412 pixels. The display receives a 144Hz refresh rate, easily noticeable while scrolling. Realme claims that the display can reach a peak brightness of 600 nits.
In our experience, it is possible in some specific scenario or any particular video only. The display looks pretty bright indoors, although it performs decently in outdoor lighting conditions. Compared with market competition, the display appears decent but no special. The budget phone Realme 9i offers a similar display.
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Hardware:
As its name goes, the Realme 9 5G Speed Edition comes with Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC. On the other hand, the less expensive sibling, the Realme 9 5G, comes with a low-end MediaTek chipset. The chipset is coupled with up to 8GB RAM and 128GB internal storage. In addition to this, 5GB storage can be used under dynamic RAM expansion technology, as the smartphone supports the Virtual RAM expansion feature.
Our early verdict says that the Realme 9 5G SE performs exceptionally well. It can also handle daily apps quickly, and even users can play games like BGMI and PubG easily without lags or frame drops.
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Battery:
The complete hardware on Realme 9 5G Speed Edition gets its backup from a 5000 mAh battery along with a 30W charger that comes inside the box. As the smartphone’s name suggests, the 30W charger charges the 5000mAh battery on Realme 9 5G SE quickly. Furthermore, the Realme 9 5G SE comes with 5G connectivity, supporting a dual SIM card slot. Moreover, there is a separate microSD card slot.
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Camera:
The camera specification makes us feel disappointed. As we know, we get only a 48-megapixel primary camera sensor with f/1.8 aperture. A 2-megapixel macro lens with f/2.4 aperture accompanies the main camera. Realme calls this a “B&W portrait lens.” The third lens is a 2-megapixel depth camera with f/2.4 aperture. The ultra-wide-angle lens is also missing on the smartphone.
The Realme 9 5G Speed Edition for selfies and video calls comes with a 16-megapixel front camera. Compared with other competitors, even the sibling Realme 9 Pro offers more substantial camera specifications. As per our experience, the camera quality of the Speed Edition variant is similar to the budget phone, Realme 9i. In terms of audio, there is a single bottom-firing speaker, which is quite loud, though. But it still misses on the stereo sound effect. Moreover, the audio output from the audio jack is decent.
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Software:
Furthermore, this 5G Speed Edition lags on the software front. Most smartphones are launching with the Android 12 operating system out of the box, and however, Realme 9 5G Speed Edition runs on Realme UI 2.0, based on Android 11 OS. Even though, Realme confirms that the 5G smartphone will receive two years of the software update. But still, with those updates, Realme 9 5G SE can reach Android 13 OS. Like any other Realme phone, the Speed Edition variant also gets Glance for Realme.
Realme 9 5G Speed Edition: Final Verdict
As the term “Speed” suggests, Realme 9 5G Speed Edition is excellent in terms of powerful processor, 5G support, 144Hz display, and fast charging capabilities. Moreover, it looks as if the smartphone is mainly built to target gamers and anyone who priorities performance first. In our experience, the camera specifications are disappointing, and Realme 9 Speed Edition mobile isn’t a camera-centric smartphone in this price segment. Furthermore, with a single speaker, the stereo sound is missing.
There are many other options in the Rs 20000 price range from various brands. Furthermore, those smartphones may offer balance in terms of specifications. It will be interesting to see if Realme 9 5G Special Edition can also attract customers based on its performance, battery life, and camera quality. Also Read – Jio tops in 4G Download speed, Vi tops in Upload: TRAI
