[Mi 9 vs Honor 20 Pro] Night Photography Comparison Test Shoutout - Xiaomi Mi 9 Guides, News, & Discussion

The Mi 9 delivers authentic colors and terrific long-range performance, but the Honor 20 Pro's paradigm-shifting Night mode is more versatile and aesthetic.
Even with the tremendous advances in smartphone photography, clear night photos remain the exception, not the rule. At close range, we're treated to blinding glares and blurry light columns, which provide the effect of cheap studio lighting. At long range, a brilliant cityscape is often reduced to a distant haze.
That's why it was such a joy to play around with the Mi 9 and Honor 20 Pro. Both phones perform admirably, taking bright and sharp night photos, but while the Honor 20 Pro features sterling performance in every conceivable low-light environment, the Mi 9 has a few conspicuous flaws that limit its versatility in close range shots. I'd recommend either model for photography enthusiasts, and reserve high praise for the Honor 20 Pro.
Distance Shots
First, a look at some long-range shots. Both pictures below are stunning, the kind you'd happily post on Instagram if you're exploring a new city after dark.
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On a more subjective note, I prefer the landscape colors on the Honor 20 Pro. The colors on the new Xiaomi model meet the naked eye test, and are actually more authentic. The sky was that shade of gray-blue, not the Starry Night-reminiscent deep blue in the Honor phone shot, and the bridge was a duller orange-gold as seen in the Mi 9 photo.
Van Gogh took some liberties with the night sky, and so does the Honor 20 Pro, in order to create a richer visual tapestry. This is a philosophical difference. There's something to be said for an honest reproduction of reality. Nonetheless, I'd guess that most users are like me, and prefer impressive night photos to completely realistic ones. We have 16 waking hours a day to view the world as is; pictures are by their nature, moments in time that are intended to dazzle.

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Portrait Shots
Details are also better retained by the Honor 20 Pro, and this becomes obvious when a night portrait shot is taken. Foreground object recognition and color reproduction are consistently superior on the Honor 20 Pro, though they are still quite good on the Mi 9.
Color is the greatest area of discrepancy. The red and blue railing leaps off the screen in the Honor shot, the light reflections on the water are fuller colors, and the grass below me can be identified as green. By contrast, in the Xiaomi shot, the railing is duller, reflections much less vibrant, and the grass is barely discernible.
One area that both cameras could improve on is the HDR portrait effect, which is just a bit too dramatic in both shots. My profile is quite conspicuous against the background, with a quasi-photoshopped effect, but that's I guess a small price to pay for colorful portrait shots at night.

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The starkest difference occurs when direct lighting intrudes on a night scene. The pictures speak for themselves.
There you have it. Two phones, and two night modes: one extraordinary, and the other merely excellent. It didn't take too long to discover that, because as the poem goes, the night has a thousand eyes.