There are good smartphones for the price, there are great smartphones for the price, and then there’s the newly unveiled Umidigi G9 5G. This was just presented in Hong Kong at the 2024 Global Sources Mobile Electronics show, and it has an insane price: just $99.99.
That’s incredibly cheap, but the specs are actually pretty good. So let’s go through them. Unsurprisingly to hit that price point, the G9 5G uses a Unisoc chipset, specifically the T765. This comes with an octa-core CPU with two Cortex-A76 cores clocked at 2.3 GHz and six Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.1 GHz.
The Umidigi G9 5G pairs that SoC with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. It boasts a 6.75-inch 90 Hz LCD touchscreen, a 50 MP main rear camera, a 2 MP macro camera, a 2 MP depth sensor, an 8 MP selfie camera, and somehow they even managed to fit a 5,000 mAh battery in the 7.9mm thin body.
It’s unclear what version of Android this phone runs, as it’s not listed on Umidigi’s website yet, and we definitely wouldn’t expect any sort of software support for it – so it’s not all roses. But it serves as a very interesting showcase of how far even $100 can get you in terms of specs these days.