Huawei is going for the win in the premium and affordable smartphone segment. While the company's Honor brand has been making strides in the budget premium category, Huawei is gunning to secure a top spot by launching an affordable premium smartphone in India. Huawei Y9 (2019) is going to be the latest offering by the company that'll give Xiaomi a run for its money.
Huawei Y9 (2019) was launched internationally a few months ago and its arrival in India makes a tough call for consumers to choose between Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro, Nokia 6.1 Plus, Realme 2 Pro and other sub-Rs 15,000 phones. The handset's price in India hasn't been revealed but reports suggest it won't exceed Rs 15,000 mark.
Given Huawei Y9's specifications, it will shine despite the competition in the space. Since the Redmi Note 6 Pro is a popular smartphone in this price range, here's a comparison between the upcoming Huawei smartphone and Xiaomi's best-seller. Let's see who wins:
Design and display
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro has a metal back cover for durability and a 2.5D curved Gorilla Glass on the display. The handset boasts a 6.26-inch Full HD+ display with 19:9 aspect ratio and an iPhone X-like notch.
Huawei Y9 (2019) feels a bit more premium with its 3D arc design and nano-stripe technology for better grip. The display is a bit bigger than the Redmi Note 6 Pro, measuring 6.5 inches with Full HD+ resolution and a smaller notch.
The midnight black, emerald green and aurora purple colours make Huawei Y9 (2019) visually appealing than the traditional black, blue and rose gold colours in Redmi Note 6 Pro.
Cameras
Huawei Y9 (2019) and Redmi Note 6 Pro pack four cameras in total.
The dual rear camera on Huawei Y9 (2019) combines 13MP (f/1.8) and 2MP (f/2.4) sensors while the front setup includes 16MP (f/2.0) and 2MP (f/2.4) sensors. The aperture size on the back camera promises better low-light imaging and there's AI to boost your photos depending on the scenes.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro features a 12MP (f/1.9) and 5MP dual camera setup at the back and a 20MP (f/2.0) sensor paired with a 2MP secondary sensor on the front. We've tested the cameras and found them incredibly good for shooting in any condition. Whether it is better than Huawei Y9 (2019) isn't known as we haven't tested the Huawei smartphone yet.
Performance
Huawei Y9 (2019) comes with the company's proprietary chipset, Kirin 710 based on 12nm architecture with ARM Mali-G51 MP4 GPU, GPU Turbo, 4GB/6GB RAM options in 64GB/128GB storage models. There's a microSD card slot to support up to 400GB additional storage and Android 8.1 Oreo-based EMUI 8.2 runs the show.
Xiaomi Redmi Note 6 Pro is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 636 chipset, Adreno 509 GPU, 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. There's also a 6GB RAM variant, which also comes with 64GB storage. The handset runs Android 8.1 Oreo-based MIUI.
Both phones are at par with each other, but the GPU Turbo could give Huawei Y9 (2019) a boost while playing graphics-intense games.
Battery
There's a tie once again. Both phones pack 4,000mAh battery and there's no fast charging support, which is a bit disappointing. But the large battery size guarantees a full day use with a single charge.
Add-ons
Both phones support 4G VoLTE, dual SIM cards and offer rear-mounted fingerprint scanner for swift unlocking of the device.
Verdict
Both phones are equally worthy. It's hard to decide on a winner without knowing Huawei Y9's pricing in India, but both phones are just as good in all areas. While Huawei Y9 takes away charm with its looks, the Redmi Note 6 Pro's cameras make a strong statement. The display, performance, battery and the rest are near-identical in both phones, so buyers cannot go wrong with either.
