Xiaomi unveiled a second-generation foldable phone on Thursday, rounding off a busy week of foldable phone launches that saw Samsung and Motorola reveal foldable handsets of their own.
The Mix Fold 2, a follow-up to Chinese company’s inaugural foldable phone, is a book-style foldable that Xiaomi is marketing for its ultra-slim design, among other features. When folded, the device measures 11.2mm, which means it’s the world’s slimmest commercially available book-style foldable phone. It is approximately 4mm thinner than Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 4. Xiaomi credits its so-called micro waterdrop hinge for helping achieve the slim design, which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel within the 8.8mm-tall hinge structure.
The Mix Fold 2 features two displays: A 6.56-inch panel on the cover, which expands into an 8-inch interior screen when you open it up. As for cameras, there’s one 20-megapixel front-facing sensor, and three cameras on the rear that includes a telephoto camera.
The Mix Fold 2 runs on Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen Plus 1 chipset, the same one found in Samsung and Motorola’s latest foldable phones. It also has a Harman Kardon dual-speaker setup, a 4,500 mAh double-cell battery and fast-charging 67W charging support. The base version of the Mi Mix Folds is price at RMB 8,999, which converts to approximately $1,335 at current exchange rates. It will receive a release in mainland China only.
Despite the flurry of launches this week, foldable phones account for just a sliver of the overall smartphone market, although shipments grew dramatically in 2021 compared to 2020. According to the International Data Corporation, 7.1 million foldables were shipped in 2021, marking a 264.3% increase from 2020.
The Mix Fold 2 was announced at a virtual event alongside a human-sized robot, and bevy of other Xiaomi products including a new tablet and a budget smartphone.
