Xiaomi isn’t done with all the revelations. After the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11i, Mi 11 Lite, and the Mi 11 Lite 5G, another phone has been unveiled–the MI MIX FOLD. The first foldable smartphone is ready and to be honest, we didn’t really think this one would be announced soon. We were only expecting a regular Mi Mix with Liquid Lens technology but not in a foldable phone factor. Our last mention about a foldable smartphone from the Chinese OEM was back in January but it was only a series of patent designs.
Several images of a Xiaomi foldable phone have leaked in the past. Most of them were renders like that foldable phone with a pop-up camera system, one with a rotating camera, and another one with a clamshell form factor.
A couple of years ago, a Xiaomi foldable phone was demoed in a video. We also saw that design with an outward folding display. Today, we’re learning about Xiaomi’s first-ever foldable phone offering.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX FOLD features an 8.01-inch flexible internal display with WQHD+ resolution plus a 6.52-inch external display. It’s the biggest foldable display on a phone today. This device runs on the Xiaomi Surge C1 Image Signal Processor –another first from the company. The new chip is an imaging processor with Liquid Lens, optimized for professional photography as described.
This is a possible Samsung Galaxy Fold killer with its premium specs. It comes equipped with a 5020mAh battery with 67W turbo charging, quad-speaker setup and Sound by Harmon Kardon, and Dolby Vision. When it comes to the cameras, there is a 108MP main plus a 13MP ultra-wide angle shooter with 123° field of view. The latter is improved with the AI ultra-wide angle distortion correction feature. The selfie camera is 20 megapixels.
The Mi MIX FOLD sports a U-shaped hinge design. This allows reliability while still being lightweight. And can last up to one million bends in extreme reliability testing. It has also passed through 200,000 bends.
The Xiaomi foldable phone also runs on Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and offers WiFi 6 and 5G connectivity. It uses MIUI 12 based on Android 10.
Now let’s talk about the price. The MIX Standard Edition will be RMB 9,999 ($1,523) for the 12GB+256GB model. The 12GB+512GB is RMB 10,999 ($1,675) while the 16GB+512GB version is 12,999 ($1,980). Pre-order is now open for the Mi MIX Standard Edition and Ceramic Special Edition. Market release will be April 16 in China.