Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold is a Galaxy Z Fold 2 rival — for $500 less

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Xiaomi isn't slowing down, releasing a new foldable phone, but the Mi Mix Fold is limited to China

xiaomi mi mix fold
(Image credit: XIaomi)

This is Xiaomi's week, it seems. Hot on the heels on announcing the eye-catching Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra phone and an AirPower-style wireless charging mat, the Chinese company revealed its first foldable, the Mi Mix Fold. The foldable looks a lot like the Galaxy Z Fold 2, including an in-folding display.

But there's a key difference between the Mi Mix Fold and the Galaxy Z Fold — the price. Though Xiaomi is limiting sales of its new foldable to China, the Mi Mix Fold starts at 9,999 yuan, which is roughly $1,521 USD. That means the Mi Mix Fold theoretically clocks in at $500-ish less than the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

There's a lot about this Xiaomi foldable to like. The 8.01-inch full OLED display sports a resolution of 2,480 x 1,860 and a 60Hz refresh rate. When folded up, the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold has a 6.52-inch OLED display with a 2,520 x 840 resolution with a 90Hz refresh rate.

Inside, you'll find the Snapdragon 888 and a huge, dual-cell 5,020 mAh battery. The Mi Mix Fold supports 67W charging to top everything off or fully recharge the battery in 37 minutes. All of this means you'll get top-tier performance for an Android phone, though it remains to be seen how fast that 8.01-inch display chews through the battery.

Xiaomi didn't skimp on cameras with the Mi Mix Fold, either. The 108MP sensor joins a 13MP ultrawide, and an 8MP liquid lens. The latter is interesting. It can act as a 3x telephoto (30x digital) or a macro lens. Xiaomi teased this leading up to the launch, and we'll have to see how it performs in real life. For selfies, there's a hole punch cutout for the 20MP shooter in smartphone mode, but not one in tablet mode.

In hopes of creating the best photography experience possible, Xiaomi included its new Surge C1 image processing chip in the Mi Mix Fold. The theoretically brings better low-light performance, plus faster autofocus, and better auto white balance and auto exposure.

There's a PC mode, too, but we don't know if it'll support external displays like Samsung's DeX mode or the new Ready For mode Motorola just launched. For software, the Mi Mix Fold strangely runs Android 10 underneath MIUI 11. It's weird to use a year-and-a-half old Android version, especially when Android 11 has been out for plenty long enough now, and includes explicit support for foldable devices.

The Mi Mix Fold is limited to China, and Xiaomi doesn't plan to change that. It'll launch for 9,999 yuan (~$1,521) for the 12GB/256GB model and 10,999 yuan (~$1,674) for 12GB/512GB variant. There's a special edition with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, plus a ceramic back, for 12,999 yuan (~$1,978). 

It's a bummer that we'll probably never see the Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold outside China, because this foldable sounds pretty good.

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Jordan Palmer
Jordan Palmer
Phones Editor

Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all things phone-related. He's written about phones for over six years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Outside of work, you can find him poring over open-source software and his studies.