Xiaomi, the paragon of value for money, has lately released some very premium phones with top-tier features and specs. The company today announced two new flagships, including one of the thinnest and lightest sideways-folding phones. Joining the new Mix Fold 4 is Xiaomi’s first flip phone, which has a great advantage over existing clamshells, including the newly launched Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6.
The Xiaomi Mix Flip features an outer display that occupies most of the area on the cover and wraps around the dual cameras. This allows the display to be as big as 4 inches, while curved edges on all four sides enable better handling.
Despite a square layout, over 200 apps can run fully in a 16:9 orientation right from the outer screen, which has a resolution of 1392 x 1208 pixels, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 3,000 nits of peak brightness to maximize ease of use. Meanwhile, the inner 6.86-inch screen features a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate, a 2912 x 1224 pixel resolution, and a peak brightness of 3,000 nits.
A chief highlight of Xiaomi’s flip phone is its cameras. Like its broader sibling, the Mix Fold 4, the Mix Flip also features cameras tuned by the camera equipment company Leica. It uses the same 50-megapixel camera with a Light Fusion 800 sensor and a Leica Summilux lens on top. The primary unit is assisted by a 50MP 2x telephoto camera, which uses an in-house machine learning model to elevate portraits to professional-like quality.
Xiaomi will also sell a “Photography Kit” that can be connected to the Mix Flip to instantly shoot and print photos on the fly. These abilities put other flagship flip phones, such as the Galaxy Z Flip 6, to shame. More importantly, Xiaomi establishes parity between cameras on its Fold and Flip phones, setting an example for other manufacturers as well.
The Flip also features the latest flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, bundled with up to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage. In addition to class-leading performance, the chip enables top-grade connectivity features such as Wi-Fi 7, while Xiaomi claims support for 5G Advanced, the upcoming generation of cellular technology.
The Mix Flip packs a 4,780mAh battery, which is split into two cells for better heat management. The phone also supports 67-watt fast wired charging, but lacks wireless charging.
The Xiaomi Mix Flip comes in three color options, including plain white, black, and purple. There’s another special-edition purple called Nylon Fiber edition with a woven lattice.
The Mix Flip has a starting price of just 5,999 yuan or $825 for the 12GB/256GB variant, while the higher end with 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage will be available for 7,299 or roughly $1,005. Like its bigger sibling, the Xiaomi Mix Flip is likely to be limited to China initially. However, older leaks suggest that Xiaomi also has a global model in the works, suggesting it could launch in other markets over the coming months.
