Motorola has launched the Moto G9 in India at Rs. 11,499 for the base 64GB variant via Flipkart. Moto G9 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 662 processor which is a Octa Core processor based on 11nm fabrication. It comes with a 6.5 inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of HD+ 720×1600 pixels (720p). It packs a 5,000 mAh battery and comes with a 20W ‘Turbo’ Fast Charger. There is only one variant which comes with 4GB RAM and 64GB ROM. It comes with a triple rear camera setup with 48MP (Main Sensor) + 2MP (Macro) + 2MP (Depth). It also has a 8MP Front camera. The phone comes with Android 10, with NFC and Dual Band Wi-Fi. Motorola says the Moto G9 is Made for India and Made in India.

Looking at the specification, it seems a pretty decent phone right ? And it’s even cheap for Rs. 11,499. Then what’s the problem? Read on.

Motorola is owned by Lenovo, which is a Chinese company thus making Motorola a Chinese brand. Like other Chinese phones, Moto G9 is available through online retailers, thus eliminating the middle man, so that they can price their phones aggressively in the highly competitive budget segment. Being platform exclusive has an advantage, they are charged less commission. The G9 is Flipkart exclusive, hence charged less commission.

Moto G9 is a downgrade from it’s predecessor the G8 which had a Snapdragon 665 SoC. You can see many banners on Flipkart of the Moto G9, claiming it’s India’s first phone with the Snapdragon 662 processor. This is not something to be proud of ! Motorola had done cost cutting in almost all important features.

Since Moto is a Chinese brand, let’s compare it with the phones of other Chinese manufacturers.

From Realme :

At Rs. 11,000 we have the Realme 5i with 4+64 GB configuration, with a more powerful Snapdragon 665 processor, 5000mAh battery with 10W charging and 4K video recording. It has a HD+ display.

At Rs. 12,000 we have the Realme Narzo 10, with a more powerful Mediatek Helio G80 processor, 4+128GB configuration with a 5000mAh battery and a 18W fast charging with 48MP rear Quad Camera setup including a Wide Angle lens. It has a HD+ display.

From Redmi :

At Rs. 10,000 we have Redmi 9 Prime with 4+64GB configuration, with Mediatek Helio G80. It even has a Full HD+ 1080p display with a 5000mAh battery with 18W fast charging.

At Rs. 12,000 we have the Redmi Note 9 with a 4+64GB configuration. It has a more powerful Mediatek Helio G85 processor with a Full HD+ 1080p resolution display. It packs a 5000mAh battery with 22W fast charging. It even has a 48MP Quad Camera setup with a Ultra Wide lens and a IR blaster.

These are some of the offering from the competition at a similar price point. Redmi and Realme are offering more value for money phones than the Moto G9. They have faster processors than the G9 with better screen resolution with the inclusion of an Ultra Wide Lens. Some of the phones even have glass back which makes it feel even more premium. Motorola has cut corners in the display and it’s resolution, the processor, the camera setup and even comes with a cheap plastic back. To give you a idea how bad the phone is, Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 launched in 2018 at Rs. 12,000 with a Full HD+ display, Snapdragon 660 processor with vanilla Android. The Snapdragon 662’s performance is close to that of Snapdragon 660. SD660 was launched in 2018, and Moto is now offering the SD662 in late 2020. Consumers always want their phone to last as long as possible and that’s only possible with a good processor. One might think it’s not a big deal now, but the slower processor comes in action after 1-1.5 years when people regret buying a slower processor.

The Moto G9 is just deceiving the consumers with it’s marketing tactics and over-hyped specification when in reality it’s not a good choice. So, if you are in the market buying a phone at similar price point of Rs. 11,000 please consider others phones which i have mentioned above.

Reference taken from C4eTech’s YouTube video.