Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge: Comparison after FULL review, which is better?

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge: One has got a superb camera, another gets faster charging. Which is better though?

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge: Both phones rely on the same MediaTek Dimensity 920 chip. (Amritanshu/HT Tech)

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge: It was only a matter of time before Realme stepped up to the segment dominating Xiaomi 11i series. The Realme 9 Pro+ is a new class of smartphone, focusing on areas that matter the most to Indian consumers – design, camera, and battery life. Especially when it concerns the cameras, the Realme 9 Pro+ is easily the best phone you can buy for less than Rs. 30,000 at the moment.

However, Xiaomi's 11i HyperCharge left us impressed too, but not with its cameras. Instead, the HyperCharge has the segment leading 120W fast charging solution that only takes around 20 minutes to do a full recharge! That is leagues ahead of any other phone that sells in this price category. The rest of the phone is nice too, with some eyebrow raising specifications.

Hence, if you have to spend between ₹25,000 to Rs. 28,000, which one of these phones should you buy?

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge (Amritanshu/HT Tech)

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge (Amritanshu/HT Tech)

Design

This is a subjective matter but the Realme 9 Pro+ surely has the more striking design here, especially with its colour changing back and the glossy finish. The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge goes for a bigger iPhone 13 inspired design with an overall rectangular theme, and matte colours but it looks understated. Both have glass rear and plastic sides.

Display

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge easily wins here with its 120Hz 6.67-inch AMOLED display. It looks brighter, smoother and more vivid than the 6.4-inch 90Hz AMOLED display on the Realme. However, Realme offers an in-display fingerprint scanner that can also measure heart rate! Xiaomi still sticks to a power-key mounted scanner.

Performance

Both phones are neck-to-neck here, since they use the same MediaTek Dimensity 920 chipset. However, Realme has optimised the chip better for high-end games, thereby extracting more out of the chip. Both start with 6GB RAM on the base variant but the Realme 9 Pro+ gets a higher 256GB variant. Both have solid haptic feedback motors.

OS

Realme UI 3 or MIUI 12.5? That's your choice. Both are fast, well-optimised, and offer dozens of customisation options. Although, it is MIUI that offers superior levels of customisation options.

That said, the Realme 9 Pro+ boots Android 12 out of the box while Xiaomi still offers the older MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11. An update to MIUI 13 is promised but nothing on Android 12 yet. Then again, MIUI 12.5 has lesser pre-loaded apps and bloatware, something which Realme UI 3 is infested with badly.

Audio

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge wins here with its dedicated dual speaker setup, with an audio output that is more bassy and better to hear. The Realme 9 Pro+ uses its earpiece as a secondary speaker, and hence, the audio quality is slightly compromised. Audio via the 3.5mm audio jack is better on the Xiaomi owing to its superior DAC and more equaliser settings.

Cameras

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge (Amritanshu/HT Tech)

Realme 9 Pro+ vs Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge (Amritanshu/HT Tech)

The Realme 9 Pro+ wins here by a massive margin. Its 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor is better tuned for night time photos, whose quality often matches, or even outpaces that of the iPhone 13. Daylight photos are full of details too, although the overall colour profile is oversaturated. The ultra-wide camera is decent in daylight while the macro camera is terrible. The 16MP selfie camera is fairly good at its job.

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge's 108MP main camera goes for natural colour tones but ends up looking dull in comparison. It suffers at night with lots of grains and lesser details. The 8MP ultra-wide looks bad in comparison while the 2MP macro doesn't quite match up to Xiaomi's 5MP macro camera standards. The 16MP selfie camera is decent but has some cool filter effects to take striking selfies.

Battery

Another area where the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge dominates. Its 4500mAh battery offers the same sort of endurance as the 4500mAh battery on the Realme 9 Pro+, i.e., a full day with moderate-to-heavy use. However, the 120W charging fills up the battery from 0-100 percent in approximately 20 minutes. The 60W charger on the Realme takes close to an hour for a full charge.

Price

This is where Realme pulls another lead. The 6GB/128GB variant of the Realme 9 Pro+ costs Rs. 24,999, while the 8GB/128GB model costs Rs. 26,999. The top-end 8GB/256GB model costs Rs. 28,999.

In comparison, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is more expensive, starting at Rs. 26,999 for the 6GB/128GB variant. The 8GB/128GB variant costs Rs. 28,999, thereby offering lesser storage.

Conclusion

Never has a Xiaomi vs Realme comparison gone this close. Here's what we have derived from this comparison.

-The Realme 9 Pro+ has the better camera performance, newer Android version, good performance optimisation, and a livelier design.

-The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge impresses with a better 120Hz display, a faster charging solution, better audio performance, and a well-tuned as well as clean MIUI experience.

Hence, it depends on what your preferences are. If you seek good cameras, go for the Realme 9 Pro+. If you want a better display and faster charging, get the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge.