Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G, Mi 9 Explorer, and Mi 9 SE hands-on review

Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer hands-on

The Xiaomi Mi 9 Explorer is like a Pro version of the regular Mi 9, which we reviewed just days ago. It has mostly the same specs - screen, chip, cameras, but increases the RAM and storage, plus adds the cool but fake transparent back, which makes it seem you are seeing the phone's internals.

The Mi 9 Explorer has the same 6.39" 1080p AMOLED screen as the Mi 9. It's the same size and it's made of the same glass and aluminum materials.

The rear glass is made to look that it shows some components underneath but these aren't the real ones, mind you, that would have required an internal redesign. The look is inspired by Alita Battle Angel, apparently, but on this one, it says Explorer Edition, while China will also get a proper Battle Angel Edition with more inscriptions and an exclusive Alita theme.

There's another difference between this version and a vanilla Mi 9. According to a past presentation, the Mi 9 Explorer edition has a special camera with f/1.47 aperture and a 7P lens. 7P means the lens will actually have 7 optical elements - typically high-end cameras have 5P or 6P lenses, but Xiaomi went a step further.

The 48MP camera still uses the same Sony IMX586 sensor and everything else is the same. But the larger aperture would mean the Explorer edition's camera will let in much more light than the vanilla version, and more than any of its competitors at the moment - if only by a hair. And we expect to see even better night-time photography coming out of this Mi 9 variant. Unfortunately, we couldn't confirm the aperture of the model at Xiaomi's booth.

The Mi 9 Explorer is probably the biggest smudge magnet we've seen so far, thanks to this faux-transparent glass back. But it looks really cool even when covered in fingerprints and we are sure many people will like the futuristic looks despite they are not the real deal.

There is still no information on the European pricing of this edition, but we expect to see it launch soon across the Xiaomi'a markets on the Old continent.