The compact Xiaomi Mi 9 SE could fill your Huawei-shaped hole

Xiaomi Mi 9
Image credit: TechRadar

With Huawei phones getting pulled from store shelves left right and center, a new budget smartphone company is bound to fill the gaps left behind, and it looks like that company could be Xiaomi.

Xiaomi has just announced the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE, a compact version of the Xiaomi Mi 9, which takes some of the impressive features of that affordable smartphone, lowers a few specs, and slashes the price tag.

What's in the Mi 9 SE?

Like the Xiaomi Mi 9, the Mi 9 SE has a three-lens camera setup, with a 48MP main sensor, 13MP ultra wide-angle lens and 8MP telephoto snapper – these cameras have the same lenses, but slightly lower megapixel counts, to the Mi 9.

The Mi 9 SE has a 5.97-inch AMOLED display, which is slightly reduced in size from the Mi 9, and also has a marginally smaller 3,070mAh battery. You're also getting a weaker chipset in the Snapdragon 712, instead of a Snapdragon 855, but those are the main downgrades.

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE. Image credit: Xiaomi

The Xiaomi Mi 9 SE. Image credit: Xiaomi (Image credit: Xiaomi)

You'll be able to pick up the Xiaomi Mi 9 SE from June 6 in the UK, and release dates elsewhere will likely be announced soon. The Mi 9 SE will cost £349 (roughly $445, AU$635) for a handset with 64GB of internal storage and £399 (around $505, AU$725) for 128GB of memory, so it's definitely a more affordable handset than the original.

Recently Xiaomi also announced the Xiaomi Mi 9T, another Mi 9 spin-off, this time with a pop-up front-facing camera, so we'd assume Xiaomi is positioning the Mi 9T as a 'premium' version whereas the Mi 9 SE is a 'budget' phone.

We were impressed with the Xiaomi Mi 9 when we reviewed it, so we'll make sure to take the Mi 9 SE for a spin to see if it's just as worthy a phone, or if the dropped specs are too much – so stay tuned to TechRadar for that.

Tom Bedford
Contributor

Tom Bedford was deputy phones editor on TechRadar until late 2022, having worked his way up from staff writer. Though he specialized in phones and tablets, he also took on other tech like electric scooters, smartwatches, fitness, mobile gaming and more. He is based in London, UK and now works for the entertainment site What To Watch.

He graduated in American Literature and Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. Prior to working on TechRadar, he freelanced in tech, gaming and entertainment, and also spent many years working as a mixologist.