Xiaomi Mi 9 SE Hands-on

Xiaomi Mi 9’s mid-range sibling, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE, will be making its way to our shores very soon. It’s a little smaller than the Xiaomi Mi 9, sporting a display of 5.97 inches, paired with a Snapdragon 712 chipset and three rear cameras. Here’s our hands-on take of it.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE comes with a display measuring at 5.97 inches, with a Super AMOLED screen and a 2340 x 1080 resolution and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It has slim bezels all around, and there’s a small drop notch where the 20MP front camera is located.

The device is constructed with a glass back, delivering a premium and high-end feel when held. It does feel slippery though and that fingerprints easily mark on the rear’s surface. As always, a case would be ideal to use for extra caution and if you’re someone who doesn’t want to see noticeable smudges on their unit.

Turning it over on the rear, one can find the triple-camera setup, comprised of 48MP + 13MP + 8MP shooters. One of the cameras has a holographic ring around them but upon closer inspection, it’s a little odd that the ring doesn’t exactly fit around the camera’s lens. It might be a slight design flaw overlooked by Xiaomi. The oddity isn’t that noticeable though unless you really look at it.

Situated on the left is the dual SIM tray. One bad news for users: similar to the Mi 9, the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE does not have an option for expandable storage. The unit we have here carries 6GB of RAM and 64GB of space. It also offers a larger 128GB storage option.

On the right, are the volume and power buttons. They’re both clicky and easy to reach. Up top, the Mi 9 SE has an IR blaster while at the bottom, it has the speaker grills and a USB Type-C port. Just like the Mi 9, the Mi 9 SE does not have a 3.5mm headphone jack, but Xiaomi has provided users with an adapter in-box.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE runs on Snapdragon 712, supported by Adreno 616 GPU. Software-wise, it has MIUI 10, based on Android 9 Pie. Other features include a 3,070mAh battery capacity with 18W Fast Charge, face unlocking capability, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. We’ll be taking this device for a full review so do watch out for that.

Xiaomi Mi 9 SE specs:

5.97-inch FHD+ (2340 x 1080) Super AMOLED Dot Drop display, 432ppi
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
Qualcomm Snapdragon 712 2.3GHz octa-core CPU
Adreno 616 GPU
6GB RAM
64GB/128GB UFS 2.1 storage
48MP F1.8 + 13MP F2.4 (ultrawide) + 8MP F2.4 (telephoto) triple rear cameras
20MP F2.0 front camera
Dual-SIM (nano)
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac MU-MIMO (2.4GHz, 5GHz)
Bluetooth 5.0
GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
Fingerprint scanner (in-display)
Face Unlock
NFC
IR Blaster
USB2.0 Type-C
MIUI 10 (Android 9 Pie)
3,070mAh battery w/ 18W Fast Charge
147.5 x 70.5 x 7.5 mm
155 g
Black, Blue

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE (6GB + 64GB) is priced at PHP 15,990USD 272INR 23,099EUR 260CNY 1,984 and will be available on Lazada and at the soon-to-be-opened Mi Authorized Store in Robinsons Manila on May 18, 2019. It will roll out to other Mi Authorized stores soon.