Realme has welcomed a new member of its latest 9 series family, following the launch of the Realme 9 4G in India.

(Update, June 14: The realme 9 4G with 108MP main camera is official in the Philippines! Price, discount, and freebie details here. And here is our review of the phone.)

(Update, June 7: Check out our first impressions of the Realme 9 4G ahead of the phone’s official launch in the Philippines!)

The standard — and non-5G — Realme 9 is powered by a 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 chipset and brings back the 108-megapixel camera of previous iterations in the lineup. In India, the base Realme 9 4G with 6GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage is priced at ₹17,999 (around $237 or P12,183), while the 8GB/128GB storage unit costs ₹18,999 ($250 or P12,860), with the first sale date scheduled for April 12. It will be available in Meteor Black, Sunburst Gold, and Stargaze White colors.

It’s anyone’s guess at the moment if Realme will offer this LTE version in the Philippines — but we’re guessing it will ultimately depend on how well it does overseas.

Presenting the #realme9, a smartphone capable of bringing your imagination to life. Now, #CaptureTheSpark with:

💥108MP ProLight Camera
💥90Hz Super AMOLED Display
💥5000mAh Battery

Starting at ₹15,999*
First Sale at 12 PM, 12th April.

*T&C Apply

— realme (@realmeIndia) April 7, 2022

As you might have guessed, the Snapdragon 680 powers many 4G phones in today’s midrange segment, including the Realme 9i, Redmi Note 11, and Huawei Nova 9 SE. Based on our experience with the chipset, the Snapdragon 680 delivers satisfactory performance, as well as reliable efficiency across a variety of workloads.

The primary image sensor on the back, meanwhile, is a 108-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HM6 unit, which makes the Realme 9 4G the first device equipped with the latest camera sensor from the South Korean manufacturer.

It still uses 9-to-1 pixel binning to produce brighter and more detailed shots, particularly in low light, and Realme claims a 123% improvement in light-gathering ability over previous-gen sensors. It also offers up to 3x lossless zoom to try to offset the absence of a dedicated zoom camera. The phone comes with a secondary 8-megapixel camera for ultrawide shots, too, alongside a 2-megapixel macro shooter that can capture crisp closeup images as close as 4cm.

Elsewhere, the Realme 9 4G impresses with a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling. The panel is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5 and embeds a fingerprint reader that, interestingly, can measure your heart rate as well, similar to the sensor built into the screen of the Realme 9 Pro Plus 5G.

Realme has opted for a 5,000mAh battery that supports 33-watt fast charging inside the smartphone.

Realme 9 4G specs

• 6.4-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED, 90Hz refresh rate, 360Hz, touch sampling, Gorilla Glass 5
• 6nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 processor
• Adreno 610 GPU
• 6GB/8GB RAM
• 128GB UFS 2.2 storage
• Triple 108-megapixel main, 8-megapixel ultrawide, 2-megapixel macro rear cameras
• 16-megapixel front camera
• 5,000mAh battery
• 33-watt Dart Charge
• Realme UI 3.0 (Android 12)
• Color options: Sunburst Gold, Stargaze White, Meteor Black

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