Xiaomi Mix Fold 2: Better hardware than the Galaxy Z Fold 4?

Barely a day after the Galaxy Unpacked event, Xiaomi has decided to perhaps try and rain on Samsung’s parade a bit with the launch of their own latest and greatest foldable during CEO Lei Jun’s annual speech—the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 pricing and availability

At the moment, it seems unlikely that the Mix Fold 2 will be making its way to other regions apart from their home market. If you do plan to get it though, here’s how much it’ll cost you, at least in China:

• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, 12GB RAM + 256GB storage – CNY 8,999 (RM5,936)
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, 12GB RAM + 512GB storage – CNY 9,999 (RM6,596)
• Xiaomi Mix Fold 2, 12GB RAM + 1TB storage – CNY 11,999 (RM7,915)

For those who want the entire Xiaomi ecosystem, there’s also a special gift box set that includes a Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 with 12GB of RAM and 1TB of storage alongside the Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro, Buds 4 Pro and accessories like a wallet case too. That will cost you even more though at CNY 13,999 (~RM9,235). The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 will be available in China from the 16th of August onwards.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 specs

At first glance, the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 certainly has a much sleeker and almost more industrial look to it, compared to say the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Mix Fold 2 for starters is notably thin, measuring just 11.2mm thick folded and 5.4mm unfolded, and weighs 262g too. It also measures 161.6mm tall, 73.9mm wide when folded and 144.7mm wide when unfolded.

The entire chassis is made of a MIM alloy for its unibody frame, while the hinge plates are built out of carbon fibre. And speaking of the hinge, the Xiaomi-developed ‘micro waterdrop hinge’ has a smaller bending radius with a custom mini rotating hinge all connected using an integrated solder-free process. This new design allows the hinge to get a 20% increase in space utilisation compared to its predecessor, allowing it to have such a thin design.

As for the displays, you’re getting a 8.0-inch, 2160 x 1914p OLED display as its main display, which is capable of pushing an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate. It also has an 8,000,000:1 contrast ratio, 10-bit colour depth, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support with a peak brightness of 1,300nits. The outer display meanwhile is perhaps just as impressive, comprising of a 6.56-inch, FHD+ AMOLED display in a more standard 21:9 aspect ratio. It too is capable of pushing a 120Hz refresh rate, along a 8,000,000:1 contrast ratio, Dolby Vision, 10-bit colour, HDR10+ and a brightness of 1000nits. There’s a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus over it for scratch resistance too, while the main display has a layer of Flexible Ultra Thin Glass instead.

Under the hood, you’ll find a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 system-on-chip with 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 3.1 storage, all cooled using a large vapour chamber with a surface area of up to 2,520mm². The Mix Fold 2 comes with MIUI Fold 13 based on Android 12L, which they say adapts MIUI to a foldable form factor with optimised screen interactions and redesigned apps. It would be the second device to ship with Android 12L, following the Galaxy Z Fold 4.

In the camera department meanwhile, you’re looking at a camera setup developed together with Leica, just like their previous Xiaomi 12S Ultra smartphone. There’s a triple rear camera setup with a main 50MP camera using the Sony IMX766 sensor, flanked by a 13MP ultrawide angle lens as well as an 8MP telephoto shooter offering 2x optical zoom. There’s also a 20MP camera on the cover screen, though curiously no cameras at all on the main display. You’ll also be able to use the Leica filters when taking shots too, such as the Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant filters.

Elsewhere, there’s a 4,500mAh battery with 67W wired fast charging, stereo speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, an IR blaster and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. There’s also support for 5G, NFC, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 will come in either Black or Gold colourways.

Overall, it seems to offer some significantly improved hardware over the Galaxy Z Fold 4, such as a thinner and sleeker chassis, bigger displays and a slightly bigger battery with much faster charging speeds. That being said, Samsung still has some crucial features that the Mix Fold 2 doesn’t, such as wireless charging and an IPX8 water resistance rating, as well as arguably better software support. Nevertheless, for Malaysians at least, it’s fairly unlikely we’ll be seeing the Mix Fold 2 on our shelves anytime soon.