Home > Smartphone comparison > Realme 9i vs iPhone 7 – which one to choose?

Realme 9i vs Apple iPhone 7

42 out of 100
Realme 9i
VS
37 out of 100
Apple iPhone 7
Realme 9i
Apple iPhone 7

Here we compared two smartphones: the 6.6-inch Realme 9i (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 680) that was released on January 10, 2022, against the Apple iPhone 7, which is powered by Apple A10 Fusion and came out 5 years and 5 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory
  1. Differences
  2. Review
  3. Specs
  4. Benchmarks
  5. Battery life
  6. Camera
  7. Comments

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Realme 9i
  • Comes with 3040 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 1960 mAh
  • Has a 1.9 inches larger screen size
  • Supports higher wattage charging (33W versus 5W)
  • Thinner bezels – 18.9% more screen real estate
  • Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
  • Modern USB Type-C port
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5)
  • Expandable storage via MicroSD card up to 512GB
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 680
  • Has 2x more RAM: 4GB versus 2GB
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR4X 2133 MHz
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • 23% higher pixel density (401 vs 326 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 7
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Delivers 28% higher peak brightness (654 against 511 nits)
  • Optical image stabilization
  • 33% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (512K versus 385K)
  • Ability to record video in 4K resolution
  • Better grip in hands – the body is 8.6 mm narrower
  • Weighs 52 grams less
  • 32% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 721 and 548 points

Review

Evaluation of Realme 9i and Apple iPhone 7 crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

Should I update?
No 30% Yes
Mostly no. The difference is too small to matter in everyday use.
The overall difference between Apple iPhone 7 and Realme 9i is not big enough to justify updating.
Main improvements: battery life, connectivity, and display.
Be aware: the newer phone is weaker in gaming and camera.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Realme 9i
vs
iPhone 7

Display

Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Size 6.6 inches 4.7 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2412 pixels 750 x 1334 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 16:9
PPI 401 ppi 326 ppi
Refresh rate 90 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 480 nits 625 nits
HDR support No No
Touch sampling rate 180 Hz -
Screen protection Tempered glass Tempered glass
Screen-to-body ratio 84.5% 65.6%
Display features - DCI-P3 -
Display tests
RGB color space 98.2% 100%
PWM Not detected Not detected
Response time 26 ms 35.5 ms
Contrast 847:1 1635:1
Screen space comparison
Realme 9i
6.6″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.3 in2
iPhone 7
4.7″ (16:9 ratio) = 9.4 in2
~72% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Realme 9i
511 nits
iPhone 7 +28%
654 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 164.4 mm (6.47 inches) 138.3 mm (5.44 inches)
Width 75.7 mm (2.98 inches) 67.1 mm (2.64 inches)
Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) 7.1 mm (0.28 inches)
Weight 190 g (6.7 oz) 138 g (4.87 oz)
Waterproof No IP67
Rear material Plastic Metal
Frame material Plastic Metal
Colors Black, Blue Black, Silver, Gold, Red, Pink
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-button Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio
Realme 9i +29%
84.5%
iPhone 7
65.6%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Realme 9i and Apple iPhone 7
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 Apple A10 Fusion
Max clock 2400 MHz 2340 MHz
CPU cores 8 (4 + 4) 4 (2 + 2)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Kryo 265 Silver (Cortex-A53)
- 4 cores at 2.4 GHz: Kryo 265 Gold (Cortex-A73)		 - 2 cores at 1.05 GHz: Zephyr
- 2 cores at 2.34 GHz: Hurricane
L3 cache - 4 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 6 nanometers 16 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon 686 No
GPU
Graphics Adreno 610 PowerVR Series7XT Plus
GPU shading units 128 192
GPU clock 1114 MHz 650 MHz
FLOPS ~285.2 GFLOPS ~249.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Realme 9i and Apple iPhone 7
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Realme 9i
548
iPhone 7 +32%
721
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Realme 9i
1599
iPhone 7 +20%
1923
Single-core score 548 721
Multi-core score 1599 1923
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Realme 9i
385682
iPhone 7 +33%
512305
CPU 161598 204583
GPU 34892 63932
Memory 85368 75498
UX 103824 168292
Total score 385682 512305
Samples Less than 3 Less than 3
PCMark 3.0
Realme 9i
8597
iPhone 7
n/a
Web score 8739 -
Video editing 4280 -
Photo editing 19463 -
Data manipulation 6443 -
Writing score 10212 -
Submit your benchmark results

Memory

RAM
RAM size 4 GB 2 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 32 GB
Storage type UFS 2.1 NVMe
Memory card MicroSD No
Memory card max size Up to 512 GB -

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) iOS 10 (Can be upgraded to iOS 15.8.5)
ROM Realme UI 5.0 -
OS size 17 GB 12.5 GB

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 1960 mAh
Max charge power 33 W 5 W
Battery type Li-Ion Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No (7.5 W)
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (27% in 15 min) No
Full charging time 1:12 hr 2:35 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing - 05:50 hr
Watching video - 09:49 hr
Gaming - 03:22 hr
Standby - 80 hr
General battery life
Realme 9i
n/a
iPhone 7
15:51 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 50 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 8700 x 5800 4032 x 3024
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED Quad LED
Stabilization Digital Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording No Up to 30FPS
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion - 240 FPS (720p)
Lenses 1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Macro: 2 MP
3) Depth: 2 MP
1) Standard: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm 28 mm
Sensor Samsung S5KJN1 Apple iSight Camera
Sensor size 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) 1/3" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.22 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Optical
Macro lens
Image resolution 2 MP -
Aperture f/2.4 -
Sensor GalaxyCore GC02M1 -
Sensor size 1/5" (≈ 0.2 inch) -
Pixel size 1.75 micron -
Stabilization Digital -

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Realme 9i +12%
95
iPhone 7
85
Video quality
Realme 9i
61
iPhone 7 +39%
85
Generic main camera score
Realme 9i
75
iPhone 7 +13%
85
Bokeh 30 -
Preview 57 -
Zoom 36 -
Samples Photo samples of Realme 9i from DxOMark Photo samples of Apple iPhone 7 from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 16 megapixels 7 megapixels
Image resolution 4920 x 3264 3088 x 2320
Aperture f/2.1 f/2.2
Focal length 26 mm 32 mm
Sensor Sony IMX471 BSI CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.13" (≈ 0.32 inch) -
Pixel size 1 micron 1 micron
Autofocus No Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) Wi-Fi 5 (802.11 b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
Bluetooth version 5 4.2
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C No
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo
NFC* Depends on the region Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* - 12
5G support No No

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack Yes No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
Realme 9i +6%
88 dB
iPhone 7
83 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Flagship
Announced January 2022 September 2016
Release date January 2022 September 2016
Launch price (MSRP) $230 $649
Successor - - Apple iPhone 8
SAR (head) - 1.38 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.34 W/kg
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 33 W -
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the Realme 9i is definitely a better buy.

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