OPPO’s Reno 9 series was recently announced in the Chinese market. There are three main models in the lineup this year, the Oppo Reno 9, Oppo Reno 9 Pro, and Oppo Reno 9 Pro Plus. Like its predecessors, they are targeted at different price segments, with the Pro and the Plus models offering better specs and premium features.
The OPPO Reno 9 is a more basic smartphone featuring a mid-range chipset and a super thin design profile. In fact, design is definitely one of the biggest selling points of the Reno 9 this year. The phone feature a 7.19mm ultra-thin body and 170 grams weighing glass sandwich construction with a plastic frame. Under the hood, you get the tried and tested Snapdragon 778G SoC mid-range processor. Note that the vanilla Reno 9 skips the MariSilicon X NPU image processing technology.
As you can see, the Reno 9 may not be the most exciting smartphone in the market in 2022, but it still offers decent specs and value to its user. It would also make sense to compare the new Reno 9 with its predecessor, and that’s what we are going to do in this OPPO Reno 9 vs Reno 8 comparison.
To recall, the Reno 8 Global came with a MediaTek Dimensity 1300 chip at launch a few months back. Overall, there are quite a lot of differences between the two models, so let’s take a closer look at how the Reno 9 differs from its predecessor.
OPPO Reno 9 vs OPPO Reno 8
Table of Contents
| OPPO Reno 9 | OPPO Reno 8 Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | 162.3 x 74.2 x 7.2 mm, 174 g | 160.6 x 73.4 x 7.7 mm, 179 g |
| DISPLAY | 6.7 inches, 1080 x 2412 pixels (Full HD+), 120Hz, AMOLED | 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels (Full HD+), 90Hz, AMOLED |
| PROCESSOR | Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G octa-core 2.4 GHz | MediaTek Dimensity 1300 octa-core 3.0 GHz |
| MEMORY | 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – , 12 GB RAM – 256 GB, 12 GB RAM, 512 GB | 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB |
| SOFTWARE | Android 13, ColorOS 13 | Android 12, ColorOS 12.1 |
| CONNECTIVITY | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS | Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS |
| CAMERA | Dual 64 + 2 MP, f/1.8 + f/2.4 32 MP f/2.4 front camera | Triple 50 + 8 + 2 MP, f/1.8 + f/2.2 + f/2.4 32 MP f/2.5 front camera |
| BATTERY | 4500 mAh, fast charging 67W | 4500 mAh, fast charging 80W |
| ADDITIONAL FEATURES | dual SIM slot, 5G, reverse charging | dual SIM slot, 5G |
Design
The Reno9 series gets solid upgrades in terms of its design. The company has focused on making the new series light and compact. That’s why the new Reno 9 is both thinner and lighter than its predecessor. For example, the Reno 9 measures 162.3 x 74.2 x 7.2 mm which shaves off a few mm as well as grams as compared to the Reno 8’s dimensions of 160.6 x 73.4 x 7.7 mm. What’s really impressive is that this comes despite an increase in the screen size to 6.7-inches, with no reduction in the battery life.
In terms of overall design too, the Reno 9 is cleaner and more refined than the Reno 8. There are four color options for the Reno 9 – Black, Gold, Pink gradient, and Red. On the other hand, the Reno 8 comes in Black and Gold color variants.
Display
The OPPO Reno 9 significantly increases the display size and quality than its predecessor. The new model brings in a 6.7-inch AMOLED panel, as compared to the 6.4-inch panel found on the Reno 8. Further, the screen refresh rate has been increased from 90Hz to 120HZ on the new model along with the peak brightness to 950 nits.
Another difference worth mentioning is the type of display protection for the screen. The Reno 8 features the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 while the new Reno9 comes the Asahi Glass AGC DT-Star2 glass protection on top.
Specs & Software
One downgrade on the Reno 9 is the processor inside. The new model features the mid-range Snapdragon 778G chipset with a slower clocked 1×2.4 GHz Cortex-A78 core along with 3×2.2 GHz Cortex-A78 cores and 4×1.9 GHz Cortex-A55 cores. This is less powerful than the 3GHz powered MediaTek Dimensity 1300 found on its predecessor. To recall, the older model featured a higher clocked 1×3.0 GHz Cortex-A78 cores with 3×2.6 GHz Cortex-A78 and 4×2.0 GHz Cortex-A55.
One upgrade on the new model is the max storage variant. The Reno 9 maxes out at 12GB of RAM and 512GB of internal storage, which is more powerful when compared to the 12GB RAM and 256GB top variant of the Reno 8 model.
As for software, the Reno 9 runs on the latest ColorOS 13 based on Android 13 while the Reno comes with the Android 12 based ColorOS 12.1. It is worth nothing that the Android 13 based Color 13 update is already rolling out to the Reno 8.
Camera
The camera department on the new Reno 9 gets some drastic changes. One of the biggest disappointments is how OPPO has taken away the ultra-wide sensor from the new model. The Reno 9 comes with a single usable 64MP primary camera with another 2MP depth sensor. On the other hand, the Reno 8 came with a triple camera setup of 50MP f/1.8 primary camera with multi-directional PDAF and another 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle shooter and a 2MP macro shooter.
In our Reno 9 Pro vs Reno 8 Pro comparison, we had mentioned the changes in the camera of the Pro variant made sense, but on the Reno 9, it’s pretty disappointing to see OPPO remove the usable ultra-wide camera.
On the front, the Reno9 and the Reno8 both have a 32MP front facing shooter.
- Read More: realme 9 Pro Plus Full Review: Color Changing Phone with an Amazing Camera! [Bonus Giveaway]
Battery
OPPO has kept the same battery capacity of 4500mAh on both the devices. However, like the Pro model, OPPO decided to reduce the charging speed to 67W charging on the Reno9 instead of the faster 80W charger found on the Reno8 model.
Price
The starting price of the Reno 9 is under $350 in China while the OPPO Reno8 started around Rs. 30,000 (~$370) in markets like India.
OPPO Reno 9 vs OPPO Reno 8: PROs and CONS
OPPO Reno9
PRO
- Thinner & Refined design
- Up to 512 GB of storage
- Larger & Better Display
CONS
- Slower charging
- No UW camera
- Slower Procesor
OPPO Reno8
PROs
- Faster Charging
- Faster Processor
- UW Camera
CONS
- Smaller Screen
- Older OS
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