The Era Ends: Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9, and POCO M2 Reach EOL Status

Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9, and POCO M2, once shining stars in Xiaomi’s budget smartphone lineup, have now been designated as “End of Life” (EOL) devices. This classification signifies that the manufacturer will no longer provide official software updates, security patches, or technical support for these devices. While this decision is a common occurrence in the tech world, it still comes as a blow to the legions of users who have come to rely on these devices.

Redmi Note 9

Redmi Note 9, introduced in April 2020, garnered praise for its impressive specifications at an affordable price point. Boasting a 6.53 inch display, 4 cameras, and reliable performance, it quickly found its place in the pockets of budget-conscious consumers. The device’s EOL status indicates that it will no longer receive the latest Android updates, leaving users without access to new features and security enhancements.

Redmi Note 9’s last internal build is 23.7.13, since then the device didn’t get any internal updates, indicating the end of the updates, and it will not get the MIUI 14 update.

Redmi 9

Equally noteworthy, Redmi 9 carved its niche as a budget champion too. It had similar specs to Redmi Note 9, 4 cameras, an 6.53 inch screen and a long-lasting 5020mAh battery that made it a favorite among cost-conscious consumers. The discontinuation of support for Redmi 9 will likely prompt many users to consider upgrading to newer models in search of the latest software features and security updates.

Same as Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9’s last internal update was 23.7.13, too, indicating it won’t get the MIUI 14 update.

POCO M2

POCO M2, a rebrand of Redmi 9 special to the Indian market, which has the same specs except the battery being 5000mAh instead of 5020mAh. Like Redmi 9, POCO M2 has stopped receiving updates too.

Like the other two, Poco M2’s last internal update was 23.7.13, so POCO M2 will not get the MIUI 14 update too.

So, Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9 and POCO M2 will not get the MIUI 14 update, because Xiaomi stopped their internal builds. Xiaomi actually considered releasing MIUI 14 for these devices and there were some leaked MIUI 14 builds, but they didn’t.

Implications for Users

For users of these now EOL devices, there are several considerations to ponder. One immediate concern is security – without regular updates, these smartphones could become vulnerable to emerging threats and exploits. As manufacturers cease to provide patches for known vulnerabilities, hackers may find it easier to target these devices, potentially compromising user data and privacy.

Furthermore, the lack of official updates means that users will miss out on new features and improvements introduced by the latest versions of the Android operating system. This could lead to a suboptimal user experience over time, as apps and services evolve to take advantage of newer capabilities.

Exploring Upgrade Options

As the curtain falls on Redmi Note 9, Redmi 9, and POCO M2, users find themselves at a crossroads – stick with their current devices and accept the limitations that come with EOL status, (maybe try custom ROMs) or explore the world of newer smartphones. Xiaomi and its sub-brands offer a wide range of options for users looking to upgrade, from mid-range powerhouses to the latest flagship offerings. Exploring these alternatives could help users find a device that aligns with their needs and preferences.

Xiaomi’s Stance

While the discontinuation of support for these devices is disappointing for their users, it is worth noting that the decision is often based on a combination of factors, including hardware limitations, software optimization, and market demand for newer models. Xiaomi and its sub-brands may prioritize allocating resources to devices with stronger sales and more robust hardware capabilities to provide a better overall user experience. In the end, the EOL designation serves as a reminder that even in the fast-paced world of smartphones, every device has its season, and the time eventually comes to bid farewell to once beloved companions.

The Xiaomi Pad 6 Max introduces a revolutionary shift in how we perceive entertainment and productivity on a tablet. Featuring a massive 14-inch display with Ultra HD 2.8K resolution, this tablet takes visual immersion to new heights. Whether you’re watching movies, flicking through photos or reading documents, the vibrant colours and crisp detail will captivate your senses.

But what really sets the Xiaomi Pad 6 Max apart is its audio capabilities. Equipped with eight expertly tuned speakers, the tablet creates a soundstage that envelops you in an auditory extravaganza. The unique high-mid crossover design, accompanied by translucent treble and thumping bass, ensures that your entertainment experience is nothing short of sensational. From watching your favourite shows to enjoying your music library, this tablet brings sound to life in a way that was previously unimaginable.

Under the hood, the Snapdragon 8+ processor powers the Xiaomi Pad 6 Max, boosting both performance and efficiency. Exclusive larger screen optimisations ensure seamless multitasking, whether you’re playing intense games or running resource-intensive applications. The impressive 15,839mm² heat dissipation surface keeps the tablet cool even during prolonged use, allowing you to unleash the full potential of the Snapdragon processor.

The Xiaomi Pad 6 Max also boasts exceptional battery life thanks to its massive 10,000mAh battery. This powerhouse ensures that the tablet will outlast most laptops, offering extended use without the need for constant recharging. The inclusion of the Xiaomi Surge G1 chip in the battery management system helps to slow down battery aging, ensuring long-term reliability. In addition, the tablet’s 33W reverse charging capability makes it a versatile charger that can power other devices on the go.

Efficiency and productivity are further enhanced by features such as the Freedom Workbench. The tablet supports four-window collaboration, allowing you to seamlessly multitask and manage documents, presentations and email like never before. Meeting Toolbox 2.0 revolutionises virtual meetings with two-way noise reduction for crystal-clear voice quality and a large-scale AI translation model to enhance cross-lingual communication. The Smart Touch Keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience, transforming the Xiaomi Pad 6 Max into a powerful workstation.

For creative minds, the Xiaomi Focus Stylus and Xiaomi Stylus are essential companions. The Focus Stylus introduces the ‘Focus Key’, allowing you to instantly transform it into a virtual laser pointer, perfect for presentations and highlighting content. The Xiaomi Stylus offers an enhanced writing experience with low latency and pressure sensitivity, making it ideal for unleashing your creativity on the 14-inch canvas.

Xiaomi Band 8 Pro: A fusion of style and functionality

Complementing the innovation of the Xiaomi Pad 6 Max is the Xiaomi Band 8 Pro, a smart wearable that seamlessly blends style and functionality. With an impressive 14 days of battery life, including a remarkable 6 days in Always-On Display (AOD) mode, the Band 8 Pro keeps you connected and informed throughout your day.

Band 8 Pro redefines health and fitness monitoring with an enhanced dual-channel monitoring module and optimised algorithms. Whether you’re exercising indoors or outdoors, the accuracy of the monitoring ensures you get insightful data to improve your fitness journey.

In addition, the Band 8 Pro’s large 1.74″ screen provides an immersive visual experience right on your wrist. The Album Dial feature allows you to personalise the display with images that resonate with you, turning your wearable into a canvas of memories and inspiration.

Moving on to the prices, Xiaomi Pad 6 Max will start from 3799¥ and Xiaomi Band 8 Pro will cost 399¥. In a world where technology is constantly evolving, Xiaomi has once again risen to the occasion with the Xiaomi Pad 6 Max and Xiaomi Band 8 Pro. The Pad 6 Max redefines entertainment, productivity and creativity with stunning visual and audio experiences, powerful performance and seamless collaboration features.

The Band 8 Pro seamlessly blends style and functionality with extended battery life and accurate health monitoring. As we enter this new era of technology, Xiaomi continues to push the boundaries of innovation and enrich our lives in ways we can only dream of.

Embarking on a journey through the technological cosmos, the Redmi K60 Ultra is poised to dazzle tech aficionados with its formidable specifications. The crown jewel of this device is its powerful System on a Chip (SoC), a dynamic heartbeat in the form of the Dimensity 9200+. This processor, a true powerhouse, is primed to orchestrate seamless performance, ensuring that every interaction with the device is a symphony of efficiency.

A mesmerizing visual spectacle awaits users, as the Redmi K60 Ultra boasts a 144Hz 1.5K display, a gateway to vibrant and immersive experiences. For those with an insatiable appetite for storage and memory, an opulent variant flaunting 1TB of storage and an unprecedented 24GB of RAM promises to redefine the bounds of multitasking prowess. However, it is worth noting that the display resolution represents a strategic trade-off, as it steps down from the illustrious 2K displays of its predecessors, the Redmi K60 and K60 Pro.

The canvas of photography and videography is masterfully composed with the inclusion of a 50MP primary camera, ably supported by an ultrawide sensor and a 2MP portrait lens. With the dawn of this new device, every shot captures not just moments, but emotions.

Delving into the finer details, the Redmi K60 Ultra proudly boasts an IP68 rating, a testament to its resilience against the elements. It ascends to greater heights with PPP BeiDou high-precision positioning, ensuring GPS accuracy that leaves no path uncharted. Upgrades in connectivity, the advent of NFC, and improvements in networking cement its status as a paragon of modern communication.

Beyond the expected, the device introduces an X-axis motor for tactile vibrations that amplify the user experience. Stereo dual-radio technology further immerses users in rich soundscapes, elevating audio encounters to new heights.

The marvel of innovation extends to its battery realm, with the ingenious concept of “dual-core” charging. Armed with the Xiaomi Surge P1 charging chip, the device offers blazing 120W charging speeds, redefining the very notion of rapid replenishment. Harmonizing this is the Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chip, an engineering marvel that harmoniously extends battery longevity, ensuring the device is ready to accompany users on all their adventures.

With the stage set and anticipation mounting, the Redmi K60 Ultra is poised for its grand reveal tomorrow, the stage lights illuminating its resplendent form at precisely 11 AM (UTC). As the final curtain rises on the K60 saga, Xiaomi enthusiasts and tech connoisseurs alike hold their breath in eager anticipation, ready to embrace a new era of innovation and possibility.

Well, if you compare the specs, the closest one is Xiaomi 12T Pro, a device released in October 6, 2022. It has the same SoC as Nothing Phone (2), the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. Let’s compare them in more detail. Nothing Phone (2) is newer than Xiaomi 12T Pro. It was released in July 17, 2023 while Xiaomi 12T Pro was released in October 6, 2022.

Design & Display

The devices are almost the same in weight, Nothing Phone (2) weighs 201.2 grams, and Xiaomi 12T Pro weighs 205 grams. The display sizes of the devices are similar too, Nothing Phone (2) has a 6.7-inch screen and Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 6.67-inch screen.

Talking of displays, Nothing Phone (2) has a 120Hz LTPO OLED display with HDR10+ support and has a peak brightness of 1600 nits. Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 120Hz AMOLED screen with Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support, and its peak brightness is 900 nits. So as you can see, aside the higher peak brightness and LTPO in Nothing Phone (2)’s display, the specs are similar.

Both devices have IP ratings, Nothing Phone (2) has an IP54 rating (splash and dust resistance) and Xiaomi 12T Pro has an IP53 rating (dust and splash resistance)
The difference is, Nothing Phone (2) is protected against water splashing from any angle while Xiaomi 12T Pro is protected against water spray at a 60-degree angle.

The materials used in devices designs are similar too, Nothing Phone (2) has a glass front and back protected with Gorilla Glass, and an aluminum frame. Xiaomi 12T Pro has a glass front and back too, but its body is made of plastic. Nothing Phone (2) comes in 2 colors, White and Dark Gray. But Xiaomi 12T Pro comes in 3 colors: Black, Silver, and Blue, which is a plus for the Xiaomi side.

Camera

Moving on to the cameras, Nothing Phone (2) has two 50MP cameras on the back. The primary camera on Nothing Phone (2) uses the 50MP Sony IMX890 1/1.56 imager, with 1.0µm pixels. It is coupled with a 23mm f/1.88 optically stabilized lens with PDAF support, the camera shoots in 12.5MP by default. The second 50MP camera (ultrawide) has an Samsung JN1 sensor. This sensor is smaller than the primary 50MP imager, 1/2.76″ type with 0.64µm.

The sensor sits behind a 14mm f/2.2 lens. This camera supports PDAF too, and it can focus as close as 4 cm away which means you can shoot macro photos with it, an dedicated macro mode is available. Its front camera relies on either a 32MP sensor coupled with a wide-angle 19mm f/2.45 lens. The focus is fixed, and the sensor has a Quad-Bayer color filter. The device can record videos at 4k@60fps.

Xiaomi 12T Pro has 3 cameras on the back, the main camera uses the Samsung HP1 sensor that shoots in 200MP. The ultrawide camera uses the 8MP Samsung S5K4H7 ISOCELL Slim 1/4″ sensor. The lens has a fixed focus, an f/2.2 aperture, and it has 120 degrees field of view.

The macro camera uses a 2MP GalaxyCore GC02 sensor behind an f/2.4 lens. The focus is fixed at about 4cm away. The thing is, compared to the previous generation, Xiaomi downgraded the macro lens to 2MP from 5MP, so that’s a bad thing too. The device has a 20MP Sony IMX596 sensor for the front camera.

Xiaomi says it has a 1/3.47″ optical format and a 0.8µm pixel size. The fixed-focus lens has an f/2.2 aperture. Also, Xiaomi 12T Pro can record videos at 8k@24fps. So, in terms of camera, except not being able to capture 8K videos, Nothing Phone (2) takes the win.

Sound

Xiaomi 12T Pro beats Nothing Phone (2) in audio quality, it has stereo speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, which supports 24-bit/192kHz audio. Both devices don’t have a 3.5mm jack, so that’s a downside.

Performance

In terms of performance, the devices’ performances are similar because they’re using the same chipset (Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1), but the 12T Pro is a little bit ahead. Nothing Phone (2) scores 972126 in AnTuTu v10, while the 12T Pro scores 1032185. The thing is, Xiaomi’s MIUI is more optimized for the chipset compared to Nothing OS 2, so this slight difference in performance might be related to that. Though, the average user probably will not see a difference in terms of performance.

The devices have different configurations. Nothing Phone (2) has 128GB – 8GB RAM, 256GB – 12GB RAM, 512GB – 12GB RAM options, and Xiaomi 12T Pro has 128GB – 8GB RAM, 256GB – 8GB RAM, 256GB – 12GB RAM. The Nothing Phone (2) has the 512GB option while Xiaomi 12T Pro only can go up to 256GB, so that’s an plus. Both devices support Wi-Fi 6, but Nothing Phone (2) has Bluetooth 5.3 support while Xiaomi 12T Pro has Bluetooth 5.2.

Battery

Both devices have big battery capacities, but Xiaomi 12T Pro has more battery capacity compared to Nothing Phone (2). It has an 5000mAh battery that supports 120W wired charging while Nothing Phone (2) has an 4700mAh battery with 45W wired charging, so Xiaomi 12T Pro wins here too.

Software

Nothing Phone (2) comes with Android 13 Nothing OS 2 out of the box, while Xiaomi 12T Pro comes with Android 12 MIUI 13 (Upgradeable to Android 13 MIUI 14), which is an downside because it already got one of its Android and MIUI updates, leaving 2 Android and 3 MIUI updates.

Prices

Lastly, the prices. Nothing Phone (2) is a little bit pricey compared to Xiaomi 12T Pro. It starts from $695, while Xiaomi 12T Pro starts from $589. So, in terms of performance per price, Xiaomi 12T Pro wins here, and it makes sense because you get similar specs while paying $100 less. That’s all, thanks for reading. What is your opinion, which device is better?