Xiaomi's big-battery budget phone launches in India as Redmi 9

• Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 9C in India as the Redmi 9.
• The phone features a 5,000mAh battery, dual cameras, and the Helio G35 chipset.
• Renders of the device were previously leaked and they were accurate.

Update: August 27, 2020 (3:05 AM ET): Xiaomi has launched the Redmi 9 in India. As we expected in our original article below, the phone is a rebranded Redmi 9C which launched in Europe last month. Rumors suggested that the device could be called the POCO C3 when it comes to India, but we now know that’s not the case.

The Indian version of the Redmi 9C aka the Redmi 9 has a dual primary camera array instead of triple rear cameras on the global Redmi 9C. Again, we mentioned this in our original article below.

The Redmi 9 will be available in India in two RAM and storage variants: 4GB RAM + 64GB storage for Rs 8,999 (~$121) and 4GB RAM + 128GB storage for Rs 9,999 (~$135). The phone is also the first to feature MIUI 12 out of the box in India. It has three colorways: Sky Blue, Sporty Orange, and Carbon Black.

The Redmi 9 will go on sale in India starting August 31, on Xiaomi’s India website, Amazon, and other offline retail stores.

Original article: August 21, 2020 (7:30 AM ET): Xiaomi is the undisputed king of rebranding smartphones. It’s sometimes hard to keep up with the company’s constantly reshuffling portfolio, especially when it comes to the Redmi and POCO brands. Word now has it that Xiaomi could launch the Redmi 9C in India as the Redmi 9 or POCO C3.

Tipster Sudhanshu Ambhore has leaked the renders (see image above) and specs of this so-called Indian Redmi 9 model. He claims that the phone features the MediaTek Helio G35 chipset, a 5,000mAh battery, a 6.53-inch LCD display, a 13MP + 2MP primary camera, and a 5MP selfie shooter.

Also read: The best Android smartphones you can get in India

These are mostly the same specs as the Xiaomi Redmi 9C that launched in Europe last month. However, the European variant has a triple rear camera setup, whereas this leaked Indian Redmi 9 model is rumored to get two sensors at the back. You might think there’s a third camera in there, but look closely at the renders and you’ll see that there’s just a black space where the third camera should be. Tipster Ishan Agarwal also corroborated this detail.

Elsewhere, the leaked phone looks exactly like the Redmi 9C with its square camera bump and physical fingerprint sensor.

Previously, a phone called the POCO C3 also appeared on the Bluetooth SIG website with a model number matching that of the Redmi 9C. Folks over at XDA Developers have learned that the POCO C3 and Redmi 9C have similar codenames and will closely resemble each other.

Given all this evidence and speculation, it’s clear that Xiaomi will be rebranding the Redmi 9C in India. The company has confirmed that it’ll launch a new Redmi 9 phone in India on August 27.  We’ll just have to wait and see if it’s the same device as the leaked renders.

Also read: The best Xiaomi phones you can buy right now