The OnePlus Nord has a new, even cheaper challenger in the form of Xiaomi's new budget device, the Redmi 9.

Xiaomi's website in the UK sells the Redmi 9 for just £159. For comparison, the OnePlus Nord starts at £379, a difference of £220. The currency conversion does not take into account differences in regional prices and taxes, but these figures are roughly $207, $495, and $287. The display is a 6.5-inch FHD+ panel, the same resolution as the Nord's display, but slightly larger than the OnePlus' 6.44-inch panel. However, the Nord uses an AMOLED panel rather than an LCD like the Xiaomi, and the fingerprint sensor is located below the screen, whereas the Redmi 9's scanner is on the back. These are somewhat less advanced features, but again, we are talking about a fairly cheap phone.

There is one 8MP selfie camera inside the droplet-shaped notch of the Redmi's display. On the back, there is a 13MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide camera, a 5MP depth sensor, and a 2MP macro camera; the OnePlus phone has a higher-resolution 48MP main camera, and on the front, an 8MP ultrawide sensor and 32MP main sensor in a double-wide placed in a punch-hole notch, which is also similar to the Nord.

Also inside is a 5,020 mAh battery, which is huge for a typical smartphone battery, not to mention compared to rival models, which often have less than 4,000 mAh. With careful use, it will last a couple of days without recharging. When charging, a 10W charger can be used, with the option to charge up to 18W.

Of course, to get the price down this low, sacrifices have to be made somewhere; the Redmi 9 uses a MediaTek Helio G80 and combines 4GB and 64GB storage; a 3GB/32GB model is also available, but not in the UK.

The 5G-enabled Snapdragon 765G (8GB RAM, 128GB storage, or 12GB RAM, 256GB storage) in the OnePlus Nord would be far more powerful, not to mention benchmarks. However, real-world performance matters, and if the software is optimized well enough, it could be even better.

Other interesting Redmi 9 specs include the presence of a headphone jack, the ability to take remote photos by holding the palm of your hand over it when taking pictures, and a choice of three colors: carbon gray, sunset purple, or ocean green.

If you want the best photos or performance, you won't need this phone. But just the same, the Redmi 9 could be a great way to get a large-screen phone with longevity at a lesser cost. [The Google Pixel 4a costs $349 and offers decent specs and very impressive camera capabilities there, despite the single lens. However, it is considerably smaller than the Redmi 9 and has a more basic design, whereas the Redmi 9 is reminiscent of the attractive OnePlus devices.

It was an extreme week for Xiaomi, which unveiled the Mi 10 Ultra earlier this week. Unfortunately, however, this ultra-powerful flagship will only be available in China, at least for now.