Xiaomi Unveils the CC9 Pro with Six Cameras and a 108MP Image Sensor
Xiaomi has officially revealed the Xiaomi CC9 Pro, the company’s first full-production smartphone that features Samsung’s crazy 108MP image sensor and a ridiculous penta-camera array on the rear of the phone.
The Xiaomi CC9 Pro is a “penta-camera” smartphone that features six cameras in all (if you include the front-facing sensor). On the back you get:
- The main, 108MP wide-angle camera
- A 12MP 2x telephoto camera
- A 5MP 5x super-telephoto camera
- A 20MP ultra-wide camera with a 117° field of view
- And a 2MP macro camera with close-focus capability down to 2cm
There’s also a front-facing camera in the teardrop notch, which boasts 32MP of resolution. That brings the total camera count up to six, including not one, but two telephoto cameras and a main sensor whose maximum resolution is a teensy bit higher than the medium format sensor inside the Fujifilm GFX 100, despite being about 1/15th the size.
The star of the show is, of course, that crazy 108MP image sensor that Xiaomi co-developed with Samsung—the Samsung Isocell Bright HMX—which we’ve mentioned on a few separate occasions.
For those of you who need a refresher, the sensor uses a quad-bayer “tetracell” design that, under most circumstances, combines blocks of four pixels into one. You can still “remosaic” 108MP photos given enough light, but the photos produced by this 1/1.33 inch image sensor will usually weigh in at a more low-light friendly 27MP.
It was already “debuted” in Xiaomi’s concept phone—the Mi Mix Alpha 5G—will appear in the penta-camera Mi Note 10 that Xiaomi will announce tomorrow (see below), and rumor has it that Samsung plans to put it in the Galaxy S11 as well.
But specs are one thing, and performance is quite another, which is why we were pleasantly surprised to see that DxOMark has already tested the CC9 Pro and awarded it an impressive overall score of 121. That puts the sensor in a tie for the #1 spot on the DxOMark charts, and bodes well for all of the other smartphones that promise to use this same image sensor.
From DxOMark’s Conclusion:
By showcasing its 108MP main camera, the Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition demonstrates that there is definitely a place for ultra-high-resolution sensors in phones. That increased resolution currently comes at the cost of some image artifacts, however, so we can expect to see Xiaomi further enhance image quality by minimizing them in future models.
You can read DxOMark’s full review of the CC9 Pro (Premium Edition) here to see how it compares to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G and Huawei Mate 30 Pro in a variety of tests.
The Xiaomi CC9 Pro and Pro Premium Edition will go on sale in China starting tomorrow at approximately $400 for the base model with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. However, chances are we won’t ever see this phone stateside, which is probably why Xiaomi is teasing the Mi Note 10—with its own penta-cam 108MP setup—for a November 6th announcement, calling it “the world’s first 108MP penta camera.”
To learn more about the CC9 Pro, head over to Xiaomi’s website and have your Google Translate ready to go.
(via The Verge)
