In the second part of its two-day keynote, Xiaomi unveiled its first foldable phone, the Mi Mix Fold, which follows the same inward-folding, dual-screen form factor as Huawei’s Mate X2 and Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 2. What makes this device stand out, though, is the “liquid lens” on one of its rear cameras.
The inner screen is an 8.01-inch 4:3 OLED panel with 2480 x 1860 resolution, a standard display brightness of 600 nits (900 peak), and support for Dolby Vision HDR. Xiaomi says the display is able to withstand being folded 200,000 times. The outer screen is 6.52-inches with a 90Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi is making big claims about the Mi Mix Fold’s audio capabilities, with four Harman Kardon-tuned speakers and what the company describes as 3D panoramic sound.
The processor is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 paired with 12GB or 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of storage. Battery capacity is 5,020mAh, and Xiaomi says the 67W fast-charging system should get you a full charge in 37 minutes.
Xiaomi also boasted a “butterfly-type” cooling system which, in addition to vapor cooling chamber, thermal paste and graphite sheets, consists of a “micro airbag” structure that somehow boosts heat dissipation across the entire device.
On the software side, Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 (based on Android 10) here offers a “Desktop Mode” that hopes to boost one’s productivity on the large screen. This turns the usual Android home screen into a Windows-like desktop, which comes with a “start menu,” a command center and multi-window support.
Xiaomi first showed off a folding phone prototype more than two years ago, before Samsung shipped its first Galaxy Fold. That device had a double-folding design where a tablet-sized screen could be bent back on the left and right edges for a more phone-like experience.
Later that year, Xiaomi announced the Mi Mix Alpha, which had a wraparound screen that covered almost the whole phone, but it never made it to market. More recently Xiaomi unveiled its latest concept phone, featuring a “quad-curved waterfall display” that curved on all four sides.
The Mi Mix Fold, on the other hand, is very much going on sale people in China are able to preorder it as of today, and it’ll ship on April 16th. Prices start at 9,999 yuan (around $1,521) for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, going all the way up to 12,999 yuan (around $1,978) for a 16GB / 512GB ceramic special edition. There’s no word yet on a release outside of China.
