Alleged Redmi 9 with mystery MediaTek chip appears on Geekbench as Xiaomi Merlin

The Redmi Note 9 series is launching in India tomorrow, but a new device just popped onto Geekbench with a MediaTek chip under the hood. Rumors floating around hint that it might be the Redmi Note 9, although it might also be the Redmi 9, since the MT6769V/CZ appears to be a relatively low-end chip.

The Xiaomi Merlin (or Redmi 9?) posts some relatively sedate scores, comparable to the realme C3 which also comes with a Helio G70, but the Geekbench listings does have some oddities. While the MT6769V code number hints at the Helio G70, the 1.80 GHz base frequency points to something beefier than the Helio G70. The Helio G70’s base frequency is listed as 1.7 GHz in all of the realme C3’s Geekbench results.

Will this be the debut of the Helio G80? If this is the Helio G80, then the CPU scores aren’t exactly inspiring. But then again, the Helio G80 only has a slight 100 MHz advantage in the small-core cluster, so relatively similar CPU scores are a given. The Helio G80’s main advantage will be its ARM Mali-G52MP2 GPU that’s clocked at 950 MHz, instead of the Helio G70’s 820 MHz.

Other specifications that the Geekbench listing reveal include the 6GB RAM that the device will offer, and also that it will run Android 10 out of the box.

Will this be the Redmi 9 or Redmi Note 9? Well, all we have to do is wait until tomorrow’s official announcement and we will know for sure.

Pokdepinion: I wonder how much extra performance will that additional 130 MHz on the GPU bring us…if this is really the Helio G80.