SE stands for Speed Edition. It’s basicaly an even more basic GT Neo phone.
Previously, Realme has debuted and boasted about the highest-ranking Realme 9, the Realme 9 Pro+ with a flagship 50MP Sony IMX766 camera with OIS. That begs the question… where is the base version? Surely they’re not just going to sell the highest variants right?
Turns out Realme has just released a base variant of it, although not exactly based on the vanilla Realme 8 because the vanilla Realme 9 is actually an improvement over the Realme 8 5G. (The Realme 9 Pro is the true successor of the vanilla Realme 8)
In addition to that, there’s also the Realme 9 SE that doesn’t stand for “special edition” but rather “speed edition” as it highly focuses on performance instead of cameras this time, making it a budget gaming phone.
Realme 9 5G
The Realme 9 or Realme 9 5G is the vanilla variant of the Realme 9 series. It is the spiritual successor of the Realme 8 5G. Like it, the Realme 9 is equipped with an FHD+ IPS LCD screen with 90Hz refresh rate at 6.5in. It has a touch sampling rate of 180Hz.
What it improves on is the processor. It now uses the more powerful Mediatek Dimensity 810 processor. It’s a processor manufactured on a 6nm process. This is paired with 4 or 6GB RAM with either 64 or 128GB UFS 2.2 storage. RAM is expandable virtually, up to 5GB. It does so by temporarily taking over your leftover storage and can be deactivated anytime.
The cameras are nearly unchanged from the Realme 8 Pro. It is still equipped with a 48mp main camera and two useless macro and depth lenses. The front camera is also identical, using a 16mp sensor.
Battery and charging rate are also left intact. It still uses a 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging which isn’t actually so fast anymore these days. There’s a 3.5mm jack in it too as well as side-mounted fingerprint sensor
SPECS:
- 6.5in. FHD+ (2400x1080px) IPS LCD, 90Hz refresh rate, 180Hz touch sampling rate
- Mediatek Dimensity 810 (6nm)
- CAMERAS:
- 48mp (main), f/1.8, 79.8° FOV
- 2mp (macro), f/2.4
- 2mp (depth), f/2.4
- FRONT: 16mp (main), f/2.1, 79.3° FOV
- 5000mAh, 18W fast charging
- Virtual RAM (up to 5GB), 3.5mm jack, 5G services, Bluetooth 5.1
- Stargaze White, Meteor Black
- PRICE:
- 4/64: INR 14,999 (~Php 10.2K)
- 6/128: INR 17,499 (~Php 11.9K)
The Realme 9 would be available in India today, 14th Mach.
Source: Realme
REALME 9 SE
There’s one more phone Realme has released for the Realme 9 series, and it’s a special edition, no wait scratch that, they call it “Speed Edition” as in you will speedily buy it because it’s affordable.
Does the phone live up to the name? Well… in comparison to its siblings, this one has a 6.6in. FHD+ IPS LCD with, are you ready for this? 144Hz REFRESH RATE! Yes, this same refresh rate is only found on gaming phones and expensive gaming monitors, all for a price of a midranger.
It also has a faster chipset vs its siblings, using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G paired with 6 or 8GB RAM and 128GB UFS 2.2 storage (at least faster than the SD695). It uses the same chipset as the Realme GT Master Edition, but this one takes the cake for having a super-fast refresh rate. So yes, “Speed Edition” definitely lives up to the name! The refresh rate is adaptive, starting at 30Hz
It has the same set of cameras as the Realme 9 5G which is somewhat a letdown. However, cameras are not the main focus of the Realme 9 SE so we understand why Realme did not give it much of a priority. It stands with a 48mp main sensor coupled with two useless auxiliaries. Along that is a 16mp selfie camera.
The battery is also somewhat of a letdown. For a phone concerning speed, the charging speed sure is underwhelming. It has the same 5000mAh battery as the 5G phone however it only has 30W fast charging. In comparison, the Realme 9 Pro is 3W faster and the Realme GT Master Edition is 35W faster.
The phone, along with the Realme 9, will boot with RealmeUI 2.0 (as opposed to the better and less dated RealmeUI 3.0) based on Android 11. It has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner, 4K@30fps video recording, 5G services, and a dedicated MicroSD card slot along with virtual RAM.
SPECS:
- 6.6in. FHD+ (2412x1080px) IPS LCD, 144Hz refresh rate (adaptive), 600 nits peak brightness
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G (6nm)
- CAMERAS:
- 48mp (main)
- 2mp (depth)
- 2mp (macro)
- FRONT: 16mp (main)
- 5000mAh, 30W fast charging
- Virtual RAM, Dedicated MicroSD slot, 3.5mm jack, 5G services, Bluetooth 5.2
- Starry Glow, Azure Glow
- PRICE:
- 6/128: INR 19,999 (~Php 13.6K)
- 8/128: INR 22,999 (~Php 15.7K)
Like the Realme 9 5G, the Realme 9 SE would be available starting 14th March in select stores, mostly, Flipkart. We’re waiting for the Philippines release of both handsets.
Source: GSMArena