China-based smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced its first foldable phone, which looks a lot like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series.
Despite the similar looks, Xiaomi’s Mi Mix Fold offers up a few differences to Samsung’s own foldable. In a few different areas, the Mix Fold beats the Galaxy Z Fold’s specs. For example, the Mix Fold sports an external 6.5-inch 27:9 aspect ratio display and opens like a book to reveal an 8-inch, 4:3 display with a WQHD+ resolution. The Z Fold 2, on the other hand, has a 7.6-inch internal display and 6.23-inch external display.
However, in some areas the Z Fold 2 beats Xiaomi’s offering — for example, the Fold 2’s external display has a 60Hz external display and 120Hz internal, compared to the Mix Fold’s 90Hz external and 60Hz internal.
While one could get bogged down in comparing all the specs to see where one phone bests the other, the point is the devices are closely matched. For Canadians, it won’t matter — Xiaomi doesn’t officially sell its phones here, so chances we’ll never get a chance to own or try a Mi Mix Fold. Still, it’s important to look at, if only because some more competition in the foldable space will hopefully push Samsung to improve its own devices, which do retail in Canada.
Beefy camera and battery
Aside from the folding displays, the Mi Mix Fold doesn’t skimp on the camera. Xiaomi says the device sports a 108-megapixel primary sensor along with the “world’s first” liquid 8-megapixel lens that can change its shape thanks to a motor. The liquid camera can offer optical zoom of up to 3x and a focal length roughly equivalent to an 80mm telephoto lens.
Further, the Mi Mix Fold sports a 13-megapixel ultrawide lens and a 20-megapixel front-facing camera. Xiaomi’s new in-house ‘Surge C1′ image chip handles all the image processing needs for the various cameras.
Along with the camera system, Xiaomi claims the Mi Mix Fold has a few other “firsts” for foldables. That includes a four-speaker set-up and a 5,020mAh battery. Interestingly, the battery is actually split into two separate cells, which Xiaomi says can charge from 0 to 100 percent in 37 minutes using the company’s 67W charging tech.
That sounds a lot like OnePlus’ Warp Charge, which uses multiple cells and charges them simultaneously to achieve a faster overall charge speed.
Xiaomi also touted the Mi Mix Fold’s ‘Butterfly cooling system,’ which includes liquid cooling, thermal gel, graphite sheet and more to help dissipate heat so users can game and do other intensive tasks for longer.
Sadly, the Mi Mix Fold runs Android 10
While all that sounds great, the device, unfortunately, will launch with Android 10, albeit likely a heavily modified version of Google’s mobile OS. Xiaomi says it’ll offer tools like split-screen, multi-screen drag and drop, parallel windows, Desktop mode and more.
Finally, the Mi Mix Fold will launch in Chine next month, with no word on an international launch yet. Android Police notes that it’ll cost somewhere between $1,500 and $2,000 USD (about $1,888.77 to $2,518.36 CAD).
As previously mentioned, Canadians likely won’t be able to buy a Mi Mix Fold — at least, not like they would buy any other phone. With a bit of work (and some extra cost), you’d likely be able to import one if you wanted. The Mi Mix Fold definitely sounds impressive and will likely go toe-to-toe with the Z Fold 2 when it launches, which hopefully encourages Samsung to improve its foldables to compete.
Source: Xiaomi Via: Android Police
