Mi 9 Allegedly Spotted in the Hands of a Xiaomi Executive; Triple Rear Camera, In-Display Fingerprint Sensor Spotted

Xiaomi Mi 9, the next flagship phone by the Chinese giant, is likely to debut later this month. However, just days of its official debut, the Mi 9 has allegedly been spotted in the hands of a Xiaomi executive. The image, which was originally posted on Weibo and recently shared on SlashLeaks, gives a glimpse at the upcoming Xiaomi phone. It suggests the presence of a triple rear camera setup on the Mi 9, The traditional fingerprint that was flaunted on the Mi 8 last year is also seemingly missing on the new model. This hints at an in-display fingerprint sensor on the next Xiaomi flagship.

Product Manager at Xiaomi Wang Teng Thomas had allegedly posted an image through his Weibo account showing the Mi 9. While the original post made by Thomas wasn't available at the time of filing this story, a tipster has managed to share the image on SlashLeaks. The image essentially shows a glimpse at the back of the new Xiaomi phone that is speculated as the Mi 9.

The image shows that the handset has a vertically mounted rear camera setup that appears to have a room for three camera sensors. Also, there is an LED flash - just after the camera setup.

Unlike the Mi 9, the Mi 8 had a dual rear camera setup. Some previous reports claimed that the new model will have one 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 primary sensor, 12-megapixel secondary sensor, and a 3D ToF sensor. The smartphone is also believed to come with a 24-megapixel Sony IMX576 sensor at the front.

In addition to the triple rear camera setup, the latest image highlights the absence of a fingerprint sensor from the back of the spotted handset. This points to the availability of an in-display fingerprint sensor on the Mi 9. Xiaomi back in September last year launched the Mi 8 Screen Fingerprint Edition alongside the Mi 8 Youth Edition aka Mi 8 Lite. That special edition phone had an in-display fingerprint sensor. However, the regular Mi 8 had a traditional fingerprint sensor at the back.

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun last month hinted at better than 24W charging support on the Mi 9. However, a recent listing on China's 3C certification site suggested 27W charging support. The flagship model with codename Cepheus also recently surfaced on Geekbench. The Geekbench listing showed Android Pie, 6GB of RAM, and a Snapdragon 855. Moreover, the Mi 9 is rumoured to come with a 6.4-inch AMOLED display with a waterdrop display notch and a 3,500mAh battery.

The Mi 9 is likely to debut later this month with a starting price of CNY 2,999 (roughly Rs. 31,900). The base variant of the phone could have 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage.