Home > Smartphone comparison > Redmi Note 9 vs Redmi Note 12 – which one to choose?

Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 vs Note 12

40 out of 100
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
VS
47 out of 100
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12

Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.53-inch Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 (with MediaTek Helio G85) that was released on April 30, 2020, against the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 685 and came out 2 years and 11 months after. 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 Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
  • Reverse charging feature
  • 10% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 516 and 469 points
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12
  • Water-resistant body (IP53 classification)
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Delivers 59% higher peak brightness (739 against 464 nits)
  • 43% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (496K versus 346K)
  • More recent OS version: Android 15 versus 12
  • More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 685
  • Has 33% more RAM: 4GB versus 3GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (33W versus 18W)
  • AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
  • The phone is 2 years and 11 months newer

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 and Note 12 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 37% Yes
Mostly no. The difference is too small to matter in everyday use.
The overall difference between Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 is not big enough to justify updating.
Main improvements: display, performance, and connectivity.

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
Redmi Note 9
vs
Redmi Note 12

Display

Type IPS LCD AMOLED
Size 6.53 inches 6.67 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2340 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 19.5:9 20:9
PPI 395 ppi 395 ppi
Refresh rate 60 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No Yes (60-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 450 nits 1200 nits
HDR support No No
Touch sampling rate - 240 Hz
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 83.5% 85.3%
Display features - - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.7% 100%
PWM Not detected 484 Hz
Response time 32.2 ms 5 ms
Contrast 4608:1 ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
Redmi Note 9
464 nits
Redmi Note 12 +59%
739 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 162.3 mm (6.39 inches) 165.66 mm (6.52 inches)
Width 77.2 mm (3.04 inches) 75.96 mm (2.99 inches)
Thickness 8.9 mm (0.35 inches) 7.85 mm (0.31 inches)
Weight 199 g (7.02 oz) 183.5 g (6.47 oz)
Waterproof No IP53
Rear material Plastic Plastic
Frame material Plastic Plastic
Colors White, Gray, Green Gray, Blue, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, rear Yes, in-button
Screen-to-body ratio
Redmi Note 9
83.5%
Redmi Note 12 +2%
85.3%

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 12
SoC
Chipset MediaTek Helio G85 Qualcomm Snapdragon 685
Max clock 2000 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 8 (2 + 6) 8 (4 + 4)
Architecture - 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A55
- 2 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A75		 - 4 cores at 1.9 GHz: Cortex-A53
- 4 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A73
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 12 nanometers 6 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Yes Hexagon 686
GPU
Graphics Mali-G52 MP2 Adreno 610
GPU shading units 48 128
GPU clock 1000 MHz 1260 MHz
FLOPS ~96 GFLOPS ~322.6 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 and Xiaomi Redmi Note 12
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Redmi Note 9 +5%
1562
Redmi Note 12
1484
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 381
Single-core score 516 469
Multi-core score 1562 1484
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
Redmi Note 9
346495
Redmi Note 12 +43%
496286
CPU 155097 187869
GPU 28220 29691
Memory 78693 141765
UX 84485 136961
Total score 346495 496286
Samples [2 tests] [20 tests]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 8747
Video editing - 4745
Photo editing - 15136
Data manipulation - 7401
Writing score - 10107
Submit your benchmark results

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-07-03 (viko)AnTuTu 11338364
📘 2025-11-08 (Ryuu)AnTuTu 11346495
Add View all (2)
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-09-20 (SSAN)AnTuTu 11508133
📘 2026-07-24 (Tameng)AnTuTu 11501656
📘 2026-07-12 (blvll.)AnTuTu 11480276
📘 2026-07-05 (Ikan pari 🐟🦈)AnTuTu 11501460
📘 2026-07-02 (Zəka)Geekbench 6 GPU381
Add View all (31)

Memory

RAM
RAM size 3 GB 4 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR4X
Memory clock 1800 MHz 2133 MHz
Channels 2 2
Storage
Storage size 64 GB 64 GB
Storage type eMMC 5.1 UFS 2.2
Memory card MicroSD MicroSD
Memory card max size Up to 512 GB Up to 1024 GB

Software

Operating system Android 10 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 15)
ROM MIUI 13 HyperOS 2.0
OS size 16.5 GB 21 GB
OS updates - 2 years
Security updates - 2 years

Battery

Capacity 5020 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 18 W 33 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging Yes No
Fast charging Yes (50% in 40 min) Yes (55% in 30 min)
Full charging time 1:30 hr 1:11 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:31 hr 08:20 hr
Watching video 14:21 hr 15:10 hr
Gaming 05:45 hr 05:33 hr
Standby 121 hr 113 hr
General battery life
Redmi Note 9 +5%
24:19 hr
Redmi Note 12
23:06 hr
Add your battery life

Main camera

Matrix 48 megapixels 50 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 8192 x 6144
Zoom Digital Digital
Flash LED LED
Stabilization Digital Digital
8K video recording No No
4K video recording No No
1080p video recording Up to 30FPS Up to 30FPS
Slow motion 120 FPS (720p) 120 FPS (720p)
Angle of widest lens 118° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 48 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
4) Depth: 2 MP
1) Standard: 50 MP
2) Ultrawide: 8 MP
3) Macro: 2 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode		 - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
Standard lens
Image resolution 48 MP 50 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/1.8
Focal length 26 mm -
Sensor Samsung S5KGM1 Samsung S5KJN1
Sensor size 1/2.0" (≈ 0.5 inch) 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch)
Pixel size 0.8 micron 0.64 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 8 MP 8 MP
Aperture f/2.2 f/2.2
Sensor - Omnivision OV08D10
Sensor size 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) 1/4" (≈ 0.25 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital
Macro lens
Image resolution 2 MP 2 MP
Aperture f/2.4 f/2.4
Pixel size 1.75 micron -
Stabilization Digital Digital

Selfie camera

Megapixels 13 megapixels 13 megapixels
Image resolution 4128 x 3096 4128 x 3096
Aperture f/2.3 f/2.5
Focal length 29 mm -
Sensor CMOS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.1" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/3.0" (≈ 0.33 inch)
Pixel size 1.12 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus No No
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 a/b/g/n/ac)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display		 - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5 5
Bluetooth features LE, HID, A2DP LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 2 2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG		 - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo GPS, GLONASS, Galileo
NFC* Yes Depends on the region
Infrared port Yes Yes
Network
Number of SIM* 2 2
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No No
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 7 13
5G support No No

Sound

Speakers Mono Mono
Headphone audio jack Yes Yes
FM radio Yes Yes
Dolby Atmos No No
Speakers test
Max loudness
Redmi Note 9 +14%
92.4 dB
Redmi Note 12
81.3 dB

Other

Category Mid-range Mid-range
Announced April 2020 March 2023
Release date June 2020 March 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $199 $229
Successor - Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 5G - Xiaomi Redmi Note 15 4G
SAR (head) 0.8 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.14 W/kg -
Sensors - Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint		 - 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 Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 is definitely a better buy.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
23 (29.9%)
54 (70.1%)
Total votes: 77

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