Xiaomi’s Mi MIX 3 is priced below RM2,300 in Malaysia

Oh my goodness. The time is finally here. After what felt like a really long wait, Xiaomi Malaysia has finally announced the officially price for their brand new flagship Mi MIX 3 handset and in true Xiaomi fashion — it’s more affordable than you think.

Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 (Onyx Black) — 6GB RAM, 128GB storage — RM2,199

Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 (Jade Green) — 6GB RAM, 128GB storage — RM2,299

Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 (Sapphire Blue) — 6GB RAM, 128GB storage — RM2,299

The Mi MIX 3 will be available in all authorised Mi Stores and online at the Lazada Xiaomi Flagship Store and the Shopee Mi Official Store.

Now that’s a really good price considering the flagship-class smartphone you’re getting. In fact, this means that the Mi MIX 3 launches for a lower RRP than the Mi MIX 2 did in 2017. And I’d argue that the Mi MIX 3 is a far more special smartphone.

You see, the main thing about the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is that — in the race to solve the camera conundrum in the time of the disappearing bezels — Xiaomi took a decidedly old-school approach: They made the Mi MIX 3 a slider. In retrospect, this solution seems so obvious, but sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to come up with.

Because of this, the Mi MIX 3’s 6.39-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display has a mind-boggling 93.4% screen-to-body ratio, second only to the OPPO Find X’s 93.8%. Naturally, this makes for a crazy viewing experience that’s also notch-free.

In any case, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is a flagship thoroughbred. It packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor mated to — at least, in Malaysia — 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. Although the Snapdragon 845 is no slouch, that processor isn’t quite as 2019 as it should be. But when this device launched in October, it was very much a 2018 smartphone. That said, reports indicate that Xiaomi could be updating it — like they did with the Mi MIX 2S — sometime this year to feature the Snapdragon 855 SoC and 5G connectivity.

For photos, you’re getting a 12MP dual camera setup at the back (one telephoto f/2.4 aperture, one wide f/1.8 aperture) that DxOMark says is as good as the Galaxy Note9, scoring 103 points. Up front, when you slide the screen down, you’ll be greeted with a 24MP+2MP dual camera selfie setup.

Perhaps the biggest drawback for the Mi MIX 3 is its small 3,200 mAh battery, but it does have support for wireless and fast charging so you do have options there.

If you want to learn more about the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3, check out my hands on video:

Or, if you prefer, you can go even further in depth and read my hands on post instead.

Photos and video were shot on the Sony A7 III.