Xiaomi announces the Mi Mix Fold, its first foldable phone

Xiaomi has resurrected its Mi Mix series with the Mi Mix Fold, the company’s first commercial foldable phone. Unlike the company’s previous bizarre devices and concepts, the Mi Mix Fold is a fairly conventional foldable phone that uses a large screen on the inside / small screen design on the outside similar to Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold. series and the new Mate X2 from Huawei.

The indoor display is an 8.01-inch 4: 3 OLED panel with a resolution of 2480 x 1860, standard display brightness of 600 nits (900 peak) and support for Dolby Vision HDR. Xiaomi says the screen is able to withstand bending 200,000 times. The outer screen measures 6.52 inches with a 90Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi makes big claims about the audio capabilities of the Mi Mix Fold, with four Harman Kardon tuned speakers and what the company describes as panoramic sound. 3d.

Image: Xiaomi

The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 paired with 12 GB or 16 GB of RAM and 256 GB or 512 GB of storage. The battery capacity is 5020mAh and Xiaomi says the 67W fast charging system should get you a full charge in 37 minutes.

As previously reported last week, the new Mix is ​​also the first phone to use liquid lens technology in its camera. Xiaomi says it allows a telephoto lens with close to 3cm focusing distance and 3x optical zoom or 30x hybrid zoom. The rest of the camera system is made up of a 108-megapixel Samsung HMX main sensor and a 13-megapixel ultra-wide, which looks like the same solid setup as the Mi 11.

Image: Xiaomi

Xiaomi first presented a prototype foldable phone over two years ago, before Samsung shipped its first Galaxy Fold. This device had a double-fold design where a tablet-sized screen could be folded over the left and right edges for a more phone-like experience.

Later that year, Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix Alpha, which had a wrap-around screen that covered almost the entire phone, but it never hit the market. More recently, Xiaomi unveiled its latest concept phone, which featured a “four-curve waterfall display” that curved on all four sides.

The Mi Mix Fold, meanwhile, is very much on sale – the Chinese can pre-order it starting today, and it will ship on April 16. Prices start at 9,999 yuan (around $ 1,521) for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, going up to 12,999 yuan (around $ 1,978) for a 16GB ceramic special edition / 512 GB. There is no word yet on a release outside of China.