Update (September 9): The Redmi 9A will go on sale today on Amazon.
Xiaomi's latest affordable entry-level budget phone, the Redmi 9A will go on sale in India for the first time today. The device was unveiled recently along with new Redmi branded earphones.
The Redmi 9A will go on sale at 12 noon today on Amazon.in and Mi.com. The base variant with 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage is priced at 6,799 and the 3+32GB variant is priced at Rs 7,499. The device will be available in three colour options Nature Green, Sea Blue and Midnight Black.
The Redmi 9A is the sixth device in the Redmi 9 family after the Redmi Note 9, Redmi Note 9 Pro, Redmi Note 9 Pro max, Redmi 9 Prime, and Redmi 9. The Redmi 9A comes under 'Make in India' initiative and is manufactured in India.
(Image credit: Redmi)
Redmi 9A specs
The Redmi 9A comes an Aura 360-design and flaunts a 6.53-inch HD+ display with a resolution of 1600 x 720 pixels, a dew-drop notch and a 20:9 aspect ratio. Just like the Redmi 9, the display is certified by TUV Rheinland for low Blue light. On the inside, the Realme 9A is powered by octa-core MediaTek Helio G25 SoC onboard clocked at 2GHz. It is paired with up to 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage.
As for the optics, the Redmi 9A comes with a single 13MP sensor. For selfies, you get a 5MP snapper on the device with 83-degree FoV. There is a single flashlight on the device to help in low-light scenarios. It runs on MIUI 12 based on Android 10.
Further, the device will have a 5,000mAh battery with 10W charging via micro USB port. Connectivity options on the device include Dual SIM 4G LTE, VoLTE, and you also get an expandable slot for expansion up to 512GB. Other features include Face unlock, P2i water resistance, and there is also a 3.5mm audio jack onboard.
Sony has officially indicated that it's gearing up to make a major camera announcement, revealing on its Japanese website that a "new concept is coming" on September 15. No other information is available on the website at this time, but we can guess as to what that "new concept" might be.
Earlier this month, we heard over the grapevine that Sony had a range of "super compact" full-frame cameras in the pipeline that could be announced mid-September. The timing in the report matches up perfectly for the new "C" series E-mount snappers, which are rumored to be led by the entry-level Sony A7C.
Since the launch date went up on the Japanese site, Sony has posted a similar image on its camera YouTube channel which allows you to set a reminder for the start of the official livestreamed announcement.
The announcement is scheduled for September 15, 10am in Japan – that's September 14 at 9pm EDT / 6pm PDT in the US, 2am on September 15 in the UK and 11am Australian East Coast time.
If we're right about the A7C debuting on September 14/15, then we can look forward to seeing a whole new design for a full-frame camera - one that ditches the traditional DSLR-like body for a lighter and more compact design. The C-series cameras are rumored to be even smaller and lighter, resembling Sony's APS-C format mirrorless snappers, but with a larger 35mm sensor.
With less than a week to go, we'll find out for certain shortly.
It may not be the sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that you've been waiting for, but Nintendo and Koei Tecmo Games are giving fans the chance to revisit that game's world in a different way this year with the surprise announcement of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
The upcoming game was revealed in a 6-minute long video presented by its developers, including Zelda series producer Eiji Aonuma and Hyrule Warriors series producer Yosuke Hayashi.
Set 100 years before the events of Breath of the Wild, the new Hyrule Warriors entry will see Link, Zelda and friends (including the four Champions, who will be playable for the the first time) battle hordes of enemies in Hyrule before it was destroyed in the Great Calamity, which was merely touched on in that game.
As you can see from the game footage in the video above, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity retains Breath of the Wild's gorgeous art style, applying it to the classic one-vs-1000 battle gameplay made famous by the Warriors series.
Born to be wild
While Koel Tecmo Games is leading development on Age of Calamity, the announcement revealed that Nintendo's Zelda team has much more creative input this time around than with earlier Hyrule Warriors titles.
"Unlike the previous Hyrule Warriors games, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity was developed by working closely with the Zelda team in every step of the process, including gameplay direction, graphics, world and all dialogue," said Hayashi.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity will release exclusively for Nintendo Switch on November 20, 2020.
Vodafone has a pretty unbeatable deal on its mobile plans at the moment – you can score a solid 100GB of data for just AU$45 a month – but you’ve got less than a week to sign up.
The telco is knocking AU$15 off plan fees for the 'AU$60 Red Plus Plan', bringing it down to AU$45 a month for your first 12 months. That’ll save you AU$180 over your first year with Vodafone. After that time, your monthly bill will bump up to AU$60.
But that’s not all – Vodafone’s also throwing in a 12 month subscription to Amazon Prime completely free when you sign up. That would usually cost you AU$6.99 a month, so in total you’re saving almost AU$264.
You’ll have until September 14 to nab this killer plan, and it’s available as a SIM-only deal or you can pair it with a phone if you’re looking to upgrade.
While we reckon Vodafone’s 100GB plan offers the best value for data-hungry users, it's not the only plan that’s discounted.
If you’re looking for the cheapest option, you can pick up 10GB for AU$35 a month, or 50GB for the same price of AU$35. That’s because you’ll save AU$5 a month on Vodafone’s 'AU$40 Red Plus Plan' while the 'AU$45 Red Plus Plan' has had AU$10 knocked off each month.
Neither of those plans come with 12-months of Amazon Prime for free though. For that, the cheapest you can go for is the 'AU$50 Red Plus Plan', which is discounted down to AU$40 for the first 12 months, and will net you 60GB of data.
So, when you stack up all of Vodafone’s mobile plans, we think it’s fair to say AU$45 a month for a massive 100GB is an ace deal. For comparison, you’d be paying AU$59 a month to get the same amount of data with Optus.
Don’t wait though, this excellent offer ends next Monday, September 14.
New legislation would base legal liability protections on whether content moderation is being conducted on an "objectively reasonable belief" standard.
For the last couple of years, Amazon Prime Day has been our mid-year shopping spree – something to look forward to right after the end-of-financial year sales in Australia. However, July has come and gone, as has August, and we're still wondering whether we'll even see a Prime Day this year.
Rest assured we will, as Amazon has confirmed to TechRadar that the deals bonanza will take place "later this year". Moreover, Amazon's chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky also confirmed that Prime Day 2020 will be "in the last quarter" of this year. Another piece of evidence pointing to this year's Prime Day definitely going ahead is an email seen by CNBC that was sent to third-party retailers letting them know it was pushed back to October.
Whenever Prime Day 2020 arrives in Australia, it's likely going to be another avalanche of deals. Despite the tradition of Prime Day being relatively new in Australia (we've only had two so far), the popularity of the sale has skyrocketed. It started off in 2018 as a mere 24-hour sale and promptly become a massive 65-hour shopping bonanza in 2019.
Across the almost-three days of Prime Day last year, over 340,000 Aussies visited Amazon per day, with 40,000 of them making purchases, according to a report from the Australian branch of the company. If that’s the kind of traffic Amazon can handle, we won’t be surprised if the e-commerce giant ups the ante in 2020 – although the current pandemic may become a hinderance (we'll just have to wait and see).
Another good indication that Prime Day hasn't been cancelled is that India has already enjoyed a massive 2020 sale this August. So it's just a matter of being patient for eager Aussie shoppers.
And October does make sense. This not only gives Amazon time to steady itself from the effects of the pandemic, it also gives consumers time to possibly recover from the economic downturn the global crisis has brought. But whether an October date will ride into the Black Friday deals territory – another invented online shopping period that Amazon heavily relies on – remains to be seen. Especially after a new report suggests Amazon will kickstart its early Black Friday deals on October 26 – a month in advance! While we're a little skeptical this will be the case for Aussies, it does reinforce the rumours and predictions of an early October Prime Day.
Whenever Amazon Prime Day is going to be, we have a lot of questions: on what date or dates will it happen? What Prime Day sales are expected this year? Should you buy on Prime Day or wait until Black Friday?
We're here to help answer those questions while official details are still in the offing.
Amazon Prime Day began in the US in 2015 as a celebration of the company’s 20th anniversary, with more deals on offer than Black Friday back then. Prime Day then quickly transformed into Amazon’s mid-year sales event where members of Amazon Prime get exclusive discounts on a wide range of items. While it began as a one-day sale, 2018 saw the offers last for 36 hours, while 2019 saw a recording-breaking 65-hour event for shoppers in Australia.
Why does Amazon have Prime Day? It's presented as a neat ‘thank you’ to its paying members, but one that involves giving Amazon more money and shifting a lot of stock at the same time.
Prime Day isn’t just about selling Amazon-branded products – many other brands and third-party sellers also save their best deals for Prime Day, completely aware that thousands of extra shoppers will be hitting the online store.
To make the most of Prime Day you’ll need to get yourself an Amazon Prime membership which, in Australia, will set you back just AU$6.99 a month or AU$59 a year – half the cost of the US subscription.
While you’re paying for the privilege of free, swift delivery (although that’s currently being slowed down to make space for the essential items people are ordering), signing up for Prime means you’ll also have free access to Amazon’s streaming services, including Prime Video, Prime Music and Twitch. Members also get free access to Prime Reading and Prime Photos for all their ebook and storage needs.
Amazon hasn’t confirmed the date for this year’s big sale event, but Prime Day has never been pushed beyond July before. That said, the current coronavirus pandemic has made things a little uncertain. Amazon has been struggling to cope with online shopping demands in most markets, Australia included, so scheduling Prime Day as per tradition in July has been difficult.
While an earlier report suggested Prime Day 2020 would be in August, a later report claimed it had been postponed to September. However, if the latest news is to be believed, Amazon has pushed the event further back to October. This was revealed in emails sent to third-party retailers and was seen by CNBC.
Amazon has also confirmed to us that Prime Day will be "later this year", so an October date looks very likely. That said, it's possible different markets will experience Prime Day on different dates as India is kicking things off as early as August 6 and will continue for 48 hours.
Last year's Prime Day deals lasted 65 hours for shoppers Down Under,h and while we're hoping it will be same this time round as well, having it late in the year may affect Amazon's plans for Black Friday and the company could cut the duration of the sale short.
Amazon has historically picked a Monday to start the deals and Prime Day usually runs through Tuesday (with a possible extension corresponding to the time the big sale ends over on the US West Coast).
If October is indeed the month, that leaves one of four choices for the start of Prime Day 2020:
Monday, October 5, 2020
Monday, October 12, 2020
Monday, October 19, 2020
Monday, October 26, 2020
If Amazon is truly planning an October event, then the company may need to work around Apple's iPhone 12 launch date – which itself is still unknown but is likely to hog the spotlight. Moreover, if Amazon decides to begin its Black Friday sale early, the company will need to finish its Prime Day deals earlier rather than later.
As soon as we catch wind of the Prime Day 2020 date, we'll be sure to update this page so you can prepare your Amazon wish list.
How long will Prime Day 2020 last?
Well, it's hard to say with any degree of certainty. We can't see Amazon reducing the amount of time Prime Day lasts for, so we're expecting Prime Day 2020 to last at least 65 hours this year, if not longer, although an October date might affect Amazon's plans for Black Friday that happens in November.
That said, in light of the recent reports of Prime Day 2020 moving back in the year, it could be even longer than expected. Prime Day a few years ago was only that, a day, but in 2018 it moved to 36 hours, and last year was a whopping 65 hours of deals for Aussies.
So we'll just have to wait for official word on what's happening to see how long this year's shopping spree will last.
(Image credit: Amazon)
Are Prime Day deals competitive?
Amazon has a plethora of offers on its site each day and those are usually some of the best prices you can find on consumer tech. Whether you’re after a Samsung Note 10 or a Philips Hue smart lighting system, chances are you’ll get them cheaper on Amazon than any other Aussie retailer. It’s even more the case with Prime Day deals.
Leading the raft of deals during Prime Day 2020 will be Amazon’s own products, including all the Echo and Kindle products, not to mention Ring security devices. Amazon is also one of the most convenient places to score a discount on the Oculus VR headsets and, now, lay your hands on official stock of Samsung devices, Xiaomi phones and Instant Pots.
You can easily score about 35% off on Amazon’s own devices during Prime Day which, for the rest of the year probably don’t drop more than 28% or thereabouts. If you’ve managed to score a $500 discount on Samsung or Huawei devices during one of Amazon’s regular deals, then it’s highly likely that the discount will be much deeper come Prime Day. It’s the perfect time to snag a Nintendo Switch or find the lowest prices on the best premium headphones – cheaper than any other retailer who will likely be scrambling to price-match.
What were people searching for on Amazon Prime Day 2019?
According to analytics experts Hitwise, Amazon saw an increase in traffic across all major categories on the Australian site, with the Electronics & Computing showing a 359% growth in reach between 2018 and 2019, with Amazon-branded items being the most popular products on the site, followed closely by the Nintendo Switch. There were nearly 100,000 page views for all NIntendo-branded items, including consoles and games.
With Samsung now having partnered with Amazon to sell its products on the e-commerce platform in Australia, it was no surprise that the South Korean brand clocked up over 95,000 pageviews during Prime Day 2019.
The other big winners in Australia included Sony, Sandisk, Corsair and Philips.
What to expect from Prime Day 2020
We’re not expecting shopping trends during Amazon Prime Day 2020 to change very much. The Nintendo Switch is still going to disappear within minutes of being discounted, and this could happen to the Switch Lite too if you aren’t quick enough.
Of course, Amazon’s Echo devices will likely be flying off the shelves like before, and we’ll still see the Paperwhite beating out the other Kindles in terms of sales. You can even expect to pocket some decent savings on Ring’s range of security devices, including the Doorbells and the cameras.
Premium headphones have been very popular on Amazon over the last couple of years and 2020 will likely see that continue, particularly for Sony and Bose headphones. With the Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones 700 one of the more expensive ANC cans on the market, Prime Day will be a great time to get a set for less.
With more TVs available on Amazon Australia now, we think Prime Day 2020 would be an ideal time to upgrade your home entertainment system, especially if you’re in the market for a good 4K smart telly.
It will also be a good time to get yourself a new fitness wearable, be it from Garmin’s very premium GPS sports watch range or more affordable options from Fitbit. Likewise, cameras and drones will see a price drop, too, so keep that credit card handy.
How to shop on Prime Day in 2020
1. Check out our deals predictions and, eventually our Prime Day deals list
There are also too many deals available on Prime Day. It's never a problem finding discounts, it's always an issue of figuring out what deals are worth your money. That's why we always set up a curated list during the sales marathon.
2. Amazon Prime Day has historically required being a Prime member, so be sure to have a subscription on Prime Day
Amazon started Prime Day as a clever way to drive up its Prime subscription count, and this online shopping marathon – conveniently opposite Black Friday – accomplished just that.
3. Create a wish list to curate what you want, as there will be loads of deals
You're also going to want to create a wish list ahead of time, which will let you sort out what you want and how much everything costs. This will give you a head start. You'll be able to see which deals dropped in price and which did not.
4. Snap up the best Prime Day 2020 deals before they're gone
We often find the best deals to go in a matter of minutes, at which time Amazon rolls out a waitlist for those who were just behind the curve.
Prime Day: why does it matter more to Amazon?
There are some crucial differences between Prime Day and Black Friday. The first is that Prime Day is Amazon’s own day. It’s right there in the name which, of course, refers to Amazon’s Prime membership program and associated services. Amazon doesn’t own Black Friday, and that means ultimately it’s just another retailer shouting for attention – a massive retailer with a really loud voice. Black Friday is a sales event for the entire retail sector. With Prime Day as its own take on November sale period, it makes it much harder for rivals to muscle in on something that Amazon has effectively created from thin air.
The second and more important difference is that Black Friday doesn’t create new spending. It just moves it slightly. As we’ve discovered in recent years, the money people spend over the Black Friday period is money they were probably going to spend anyway: all Black Friday really does is concentrates pre-Christmas shopping in the last week of November.
Prime Day spending is different in two ways. First of all, people aren’t spending the money they’d already planned to spend on Christmas presents. And secondly, they’re buying mainly for themselves, not for others.
There’s another key benefit for Amazon. Its global bestsellers on Prime Day weren’t just Amazon devices; they were Amazon devices that connect to Amazon services. Fire TVs, Kindle Fires, Echo devices, Alexa remotes. Each one of them connecting to Amazon Prime, and each one of them requiring a Prime membership to buy in the first place. So when Black Friday rolls around, Amazon will have a whole bunch of Prime members for whom shopping on Prime is the default, and who might want to enhance their Amazon-powered smart homes with Amazon-branded Black Friday deals.
Prime Day means that, for Amazon, Christmas now comes twice a year.
A second $1,200 maximum check from the IRS may still happen, but there are still some prominent questions. The original CARES Act may offer clues as to what a second round of payments might look like.
