The Note 9 uses the 8-core MediaTek Helio G85 containing 2 2 GHz Cortex-A75 core, 6 1.8 GHz Cortex-A55 core, and an 1 GHz Mali-G52 MC2 GPU), which is a small revision of the MediaTek Helio G80. The difference being the GPU, with the GPU clock at 950 MHz on the MediaTek Helio G80, and 1 GHz on the MediaTek Helio G85. The rest of the series uses the 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 720G which contains 2 2.3 GHz Kryo 465 Gold core, 6 1.8 GHz Kryo 465 Silver core, and an Adreno 618 GPU.
Display
The Note 9 has a 2340x1080 1080p, 16M colors, Gorilla Glass 5, and IPSLCD display with 1242:1 contrast ratio, 370 nits of brightness with 100% brightness, and up to 466 nits with Auto mode turned on. The rest of the series has a slightly larger display, at 2400x1080 with a 20:9 aspect ratio, rated for 1500:1 contrast ratio and 450 nits of brightness, and has support for HDR10. The Note 9S/Pro has 421 nits of brightness with 100% brightness, up to 575 nits of brightness with Auto mode turned on, and 1369-1389:1 contrast ratio. The Note 9 Pro /Pro Max has 456 nits of brightness with 100% brightness, up to 616 nits of brightness with Auto mode turned on, and 1265-1285:1 contrast ratio.
Camera
The Note 9 uses a quad rear camera array, which is a 48 MP ƒ/1.8 26mm 1/2" 0.8µm main camera with PDAF, an 8 MP ƒ/2.2 13mm 1/4" 1.12µm 118˚ ultra-wide camera, a 2 MP ƒ/2.4 1/5" 1.75µm macro camera with autofocus, and an 2 MP ƒ/2.4 depth sensor camera. It also has a 13 MP ƒ/2.3 29mm 1/3.1" 1.12µm front camera. It can shoot at 4K/30fps, 1080p/30fps, and 720p/960fps with the rear camera, 1080p/30fps with front camera, and has gyro-EIS. The Note 9 Pro, Note 9S, and the Poco M2 Pro has the macro camera upgraded to 5 MP, and the ultra-wide camera slightly wider at 119˚. It also has a 16 MP f/2.5 1/3.06" 1µm front camera, and can shoot at 1080p/60/120fps with the rear camera. The Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max has the main camera upgraded to a 64 MP ƒ/1.9 26mm 1/1.72" 0.8µm main camera, and the Note 9 Pro Max has a 32 MP 1/2.8" 0.8µm front camera. The Note 9 Pro can shoot at 1080p/120fps with the front camera.
Battery
The entire line uses a non-removable 5020 mAh Li-Po battery, except for the Poco M2 Pro which uses a slightly smaller non-removable Li-Po 5000 mAh battery. The Note 9, Note 9S, and the Note 9 Pro has 18W fast charging, the Note 9 Pro and the Note 9 Pro Max has 30W fast charging, and the Poco M2 Pro has 33W fast charging.
Software
User interface
The series uses MIUI 11, except for the Poco M2 Pro, which uses MIUI 11 for POCO. All are based on Android 10.
