What you need to know
- Xiaomi announces the Mix Fold 3 for the Chinese market.
- It has a 6.56-inch cover screen and a larger 8.03-inch foldable screen.
- The device has all Leica-powered rear cameras with multiple focal lengths.
Xiaomi has finally unveiled the most anticipated third iteration of foldable, the Mix Fold 3, in China. The foldable starts at CNY 8999 (~$1239) and will be available from August 16. It is a strong contender to the recent Galaxy Z Fold 5 from Samsung but is likely confined again only to the Chinese market.
The Mix Fold 2 from last year has been one of the thinnest foldable phones of the year, and the successor is no exception. It measures only 10.96mm when folded, whereas the Z Fold 5 measures 13.4mm. When unfolded, the latter measures 6.1mm, and the Mix Fold 3 measures 5.26mm. There is also a special Dragonscale fiber edition, which measures even thinner when folded at 10.86mm.
It's thin, but still not as thin as the Honor Magic V2, which is as thin as 9.9mm folded and 4.7mm unfolded.
The Mix Fold 3 equips two high refresh rate displays up to 120Hz. The outer screen has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 screen protection and measures 6.56 inches. The inner foldable screen measures 8.03 inches and features a 2K+ (2160 x 1916) resolution. Both screens here support peak brightness of up to an impressive 2600 nits.
The Mix Fold 3 equips an improved Xiaomi's proprietary hinge technology, which promises to withstand half a million folds. The 500,000 folds are backed by TÜV Rheinland's Extreme folding certification. It further supports Hover Mode, meaning the foldable screen can be placed at any angle ranging from 45° - 135°.
The foldable phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with clock speeds hitting at 3.36GHz. This is the same chipset found in the Galaxy S23 series, dubbed "Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 For Galaxy," featuring a slightly higher clock speed than the regular variant. The device equips up to 16GB of RAM coupled with up to 1TB of onboard storage.
There is a quad camera system for optics, which are Leica-powered lenses. It includes an all-focal length camera similar to the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, with a 50MP (Sony IMX800) camera backed by a 12MP ultrawide angle lens, a 10MP 3.2X telephoto lens, and another 10MP 5X periscopic lens. Even as premium phones, we don't commonly see two telephoto lenses on a foldable, so Xiaomi is already giving the Z Fold 5 a run for its money.
Both the foldable screen and cover screen feature 20MP sensors for selfies and video calls.
The Mix Fold 3 is powered by a rather decent 4800mAh battery with support to 67W fast wired charging alongside 50W wireless charging. There is support to reverse wireless charging as well.
While the device is now official in China, there is no word about the global launch yet. Given the impressive design and promising top-tier specs on paper, it's well-equipped to take on the best foldables of this year. The device will be up for sale in China this week, with configurations including 16GB+512GB priced at CNY 9,999 (~$1378), and a larger 16GB+1TB retailing for CNY 10,999 (~$1515).
