Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S vs Note 12S
46
out of 100
VS
47
out of 100
Here we compared two mid-range smartphones: the 6.67-inch Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G) that was released on March 23, 2020, against the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S, which is powered by MediaTek Helio G96 and came out 3 years 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
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S
- Shows 23% longer battery life (26:58 vs 22:00 hours)
- Slow-motion recording at 960FPS
- Ability to record video in 4K resolution
- More energy-efficient CPU – Snapdragon 720G
- 12% faster in single-core GeekBench 6 test: 751 and 671 points
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S
- Higher display refresh rate – 90 Hz
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- More recent OS version: Android 15 versus 12
- Stereo speakers
- Has 50% more RAM: 6GB versus 4GB
- Delivers 11% higher peak brightness (637 against 576 nits)
- Supports higher wattage charging (33W versus 18W)
- AMOLED display (versus competitor's IPS LCD)
- The phone is 3 years newer
Review
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.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | IPS LCD | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.67 inches | 6.43 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1080 x 2400 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 395 ppi | 409 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 60 Hz | 90 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 628 nits | 1000 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10 | No |
| Touch sampling rate | - | 180 Hz |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Tempered glass |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 84% | 84.5% |
| Display features | - | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 114.9% | 99.2% |
| PWM | Not detected | 355 Hz |
| Response time | 34 ms | 3 ms |
| Contrast | 1111:1 | ∞ Infinity |
Screen space comparison
Redmi Note 9S
6.67″ (20:9 ratio) = 16.6 in2
Redmi Note 12S
6.43″ (20:9 ratio) = 15.5 in2
~7% more screen space
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 166 mm (6.54 inches) | 159.87 mm (6.29 inches) |
| Width | 77 mm (3.03 inches) | 73.87 mm (2.91 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.8 mm (0.35 inches) | 8.09 mm (0.32 inches) |
| Weight | 210 g (7.41 oz) | 176 g (6.21 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | No |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Plastic |
| Colors | White, Black, Blue | Black, Blue, Green |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-button | Yes, in-button |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G | MediaTek Helio G96 |
| Max clock | 2300 MHz | 2050 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 6) | 8 (2 + 6) |
| Architecture | - 6 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 465 Silver (Cortex-A55) - 2 cores at 2.3 GHz: Kryo 465 Gold (Cortex-A76) |
- 6 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A55 - 2 cores at 2.05 GHz: Cortex-A76 |
| Manufacturing | Samsung | TSMC |
| Lithography process | 8 nanometers | 12 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon 692 | MediaTek APU |
| Graphics | Adreno 618 | Mali-G57 MC2 |
| GPU shading units | 256 | 64 |
| GPU clock | 750 MHz | 950 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~384 GFLOPS | ~121.6 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 1215 | - |
| Single-core score | 751 | 671 |
| Multi-core score | 1805 | 1518 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 228452 | 182454 |
| GPU | 50275 | 44018 |
| Memory | 92986 | 129323 |
| UX | 143936 | 137427 |
| Total score | 515649 | 493222 |
| Samples | [10 tests] | Less than 3 |
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
| Stability | - | 97% |
| Graphics test | - | 1 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 132 |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | 98% | 82% |
| Graphics test | 1 FPS | 1 FPS |
| Graphics score | 314 | 326 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 6590 | 7036 |
| Video editing | 5430 | 4563 |
| Photo editing | 16585 | 17381 |
| Data manipulation | 6786 | 6849 |
| Writing score | 9568 | 10223 |
Recent User Tests
Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-07-27 (Makasin0) | AnTuTu 11 | 624334 |
| 📘 2026-06-14 (Dai) | AnTuTu 11 | 502298 |
| 📘 2026-06-07 (Makasin) | AnTuTu 11 | 618293 |
| 📘 2025-12-25 (Felipe) | AnTuTu 11 | 487011 |
| 📘 2025-11-13 (Unixon) | AnTuTu 11 | 527461 |
Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-04 (nur) | AnTuTu 12 | 623444 |
| 📘 2026-07-20 (Victor monteiiro) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 664 / 1929 |
| 📘 2025-11-09 (Killjoy) | AnTuTu 11 | 493222 |
| 📘 2024-05-22 (Victor Monteiiro) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 671 / 1518 |
| 📘 2024-01-03 (KaQ_Ss) | Geekbench 6 CPU | 678 / 1895 |
Memory
| RAM size | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR4X | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 2133 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 2 | 2 |
| Storage size | 64 GB | 64 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 2.1 | UFS 2.2 |
| Memory card | MicroSD | MicroSD |
| Memory card max size | Up to 512 GB | Up to 1024 GB |
Software
| Operating system | Android 10.0 (Can be upgraded to Android 12) | Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | MIUI 14 | HyperOS 2.0 |
| OS size | 18 GB | 20 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 | No | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 50 min) | Yes (55% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 2:30 hr | 1:12 hr |
| Web browsing | 10:56 hr | 08:33 hr |
| Watching video | 15:15 hr | 12:31 hr |
| Gaming | 05:45 hr | 05:17 hr |
| Standby | 136 hr | 112 hr |
General battery life
Smartphones With Long Battery Life (#106th place)
Main camera
| Matrix | 48 megapixels | 108 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8000 x 6000 | 12032 x 9024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | LED | LED |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| 8K video recording | No | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 30FPS | No |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 30FPS |
| Slow motion | 960 FPS (720p) | 120 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 119° | 118° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 48 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Macro: 5 MP 4) Depth: 2 MP |
1) Standard: 108 MP 2) Ultrawide: 8 MP 3) Macro: 2 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Image resolution | 48 MP | 108 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.8 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | - |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KGM2 | Samsung S5KHM2 |
| Sensor size | 1/2" (≈ 0.5 inch) | 1/1.52" (≈ 0.66 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | Phase autofocus |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 8 MP | 8 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 13 mm | - |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV8856 | - |
| Sensor size | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) | 1/4.0" (≈ 0.25 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Image resolution | 5 MP | 2 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | Samsung S5KE9 | - |
| Pixel size | 1.12 micron | - |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 16 megapixels | 16 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 4920 x 3264 | 4920 x 3264 |
| Aperture | f/2.5 | f/2.4 |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV16A1Q | CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) | 1/3.06" (≈ 0.33 inch) |
| Pixel size | 1 micron | 1 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 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 | 5.2 |
| 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, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Galileo |
| NFC* | No | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | Yes |
| 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* | 12 | 13 |
| 5G support | No | No |
Sound
| Speakers | Mono | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | Yes | Yes |
| FM radio | Yes | No |
| Dolby Atmos | No | No |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Mid-range | Mid-range |
| Announced | March 2020 | March 2023 |
| Release date | April 2020 | April 2023 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $200 | $289 |
| Successor | - Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S | - |
| SAR (head) | 0.72 W/kg | - |
| SAR (body) | 0.98 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
If the display, software, and sound are more important to you, then choose the Xiaomi Redmi Note 12S. But if the gaming and battery life are more of a priority – go for the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9S.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 33