Xiaomi has officially unveiled the Mi Fold 2 foldable smartphone at the end of Lei Jun’s Annual Speech, which will be broadcast in China on August 11th, after the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4.
Following yesterday’s launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 4, Xiaomi today unveiled its newest flagship, the Mix Fold 2.
More than a year after the release of the original Xiaomi foldable phone, the company has released the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2. This time was obviously well spent by Xiaomi. The inward folding mechanism in the second edition has been improved upon from the first.
OK, so what’s the latest? The Mix Fold 2’s most noticeable upgrade is its sleeker design, which houses a fingerprint reader on the right side. Xiaomi claims the device’s thickness is only 5.4 mm when folded, but increases to 11.2 mm when open. That’s smaller than the Samsung equivalent, so it should be easier to use with one hand. The 8.02-inch 2,160 x 1,914 LTPO main display at 120 Hz is another major selling point. The exterior is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus and houses a 6.56-inch AMOLED panel with a refresh rate of 120 hertz.
The Mix Fold 2 is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM, and a 4,500mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging. The company Xiaomi claims their device can be fully charged in 40 minutes.
In terms of optics, the Mix Fold 2 flaunts a Leica-tuned triple-sensor rear setup that is housed in a horizontal hump at the back of the device. The 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 now takes up residence in the primary camera position, representing the most notable improvement. There is a 13 megapixel wide-angle camera and an 8 megapixel 2x telephoto camera.
Xiaomi’s MIUI Fold 13, based on Android 12, is the operating system powering the Mix Fold 2. The bottom of the screen now features a taskbar reminiscent of the one on the Galaxy Z Fold 4, and there are new keyboard shortcuts and gestures for managing multiple windows at once.
Pricing and Availability
The first Mix Fold did not come cheap, but it was revolutionary. That put the price of the bare-bones 256GB model at 9,999 yuan ($1,445). Both 512GB and 1TB storage options are available, and the starting price has dropped significantly.
Starting at 8,999 yuan ($1,336) for the 256GB model, the price increases to 9,999 yuan ($1,445) and 11,999 yuan ($1,782). The product is now available for preorder, with a full release date of August 16. Black and gold are two of the available colorways.
There is currently no evidence that Xiaomi will release its foldable in regions outside of China, as was the case with the original Mix Fold. If it goes global at that price, however, it might be able to compete with Samsung’s foldable.
