Xiaomi has just unveiled the Mi Mix 2S at an event in Shanghai. The headline feature is a dual-lens camera which combines a 12-megapixel wide-angle lens with a 12-megapixel telephoto lens and some A.I. smarts to produce amazing photos.
Featuring a near bezel-less design, this eye-catching phone has a ceramic body with an aluminum frame. Unlike many Android phones of late, Xiaomi hasn’t adopted a notch, preferring to shrink the bezels above and below the 5.99-inch screen down as much as possible. The larger bottom bezel houses the front-facing camera. The LCD screen has a resolution of 2,160 x 1,080 pixels.
Under the hood you’ll find a Snapdragon 845 processor with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. Xiaomi showed off an impressively high AnTuTu score of 277,178, claiming the new phone is much faster than the competition, but we’ll reserve judgement on that until we can try it in the real world. You can get versions with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage inside. It runs Android 8.0 Oreo with Xiaomi’s MIUI on top.
Xiaomi clearly has the iPhone X in its sights, as the Chinese smartphone manufacturer spent a large section of the launch event comparing the Mi Mix 2S to Apple’s flagship. The cameras were shown side by side as Xiaomi displayed how much faster the Mi Mix 2S is at focusing and capturing subjects thanks to the dual-pixel autofocus.
There’s a Sony IMX363 sensor inside the Mi Mix 2S with large 1.4um pixels for great low-light performance. It also boasts optical zoom, OIS (optical image stabilization), and a new Portrait Mode for shots of people with that blurred-background bokeh effect. Xiaomi also talked about the frame-by-frame optimization which reduces noise.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S managed a score of 97 at DxoMark, the same score as the iPhone X, but a couple of points below Samsung’s Galaxy S9 Plus, winning particular plaudits for low-light performance.
Every manufacturer is talking about A.I. nowadays and Xiaomi is no exception. The A.I. in the Mi Mix 2S camera helps create that bokeh effect and intelligently reduce noise or get the best from the different lighting settings. It can also automatically detect different scenes to change settings accordingly for best results, and translate text or convert currencies in real time.
Xiaomi has also beefed up its Xiao voice assistant, so there are many new voice controls allowing you to wake the screen, set reminders, take selfies, find photos from a specific day, and a lot more, simply by asking. Whether this will work outside of China isn’t clear.
The Mi Mix 2S also supports Qi wireless charging at up to 7.5W, NFC for mobile payments, and Google’s ARCore for augmented reality. It comes in white or black.
The base model of the Mi Mix 2S with 6GB of RAM and 64GB of storage costs 3,299 Chinese Yuan (around $525). The top model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage costs 3,999 Chinese Yuan (around $640) and comes with a fast-charging, 7.5W Qi wireless charging pad in the box.
It’s tough not to be impressed by the complete package that the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is offering at that price, but we’ll be surprised if the phone gets an official launch in the U.S., so you’re stuck with the prospect of buying an import if you want it. With support for 43 global bands you can use it anywhere in the world, but there’s no word on international markets or prices just yet. We’ll keep you posted.
