Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6 already looks old, thanks to Xiaomi’s first flip phone
During the recent launch of the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, our most frequently used word was “iterative.” And now, Xiaomi’s first clamshell phone promises to make its Samsung rival look rather conservative and boring, with a mix of bold design and promising specs.
Ahead of the official launch of the Xiaomi Mix Flip on July 19, Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi has released a series of teasers on X (formerly Twitter) and Weibo to give us a taste of what the phone can do. And on paper, it certainly seems like a contender for our guide to the best foldable phones, if it gets a global release.
The Mix Flip’s most obvious calling card is its 4.01-inch cover display, which stretches across the entire back and makes the Z Flip 6’s 3.4-inch equivalent look a little like the one from the previous generation. That screen looks similar to the one we’ve seen on the Motorola Razr Plus, which we found to be pretty useful, and it also has a built-in earpiece speaker, allowing you to make private calls without having to open the phone.
Xiaomi’s new flip phone has a few other big spec highlights, too. Like the Z Flip 6, the Mix Flip packs a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with a vapor chamber for cooling. And it’s also got an impressively large 4,780mAh battery – we’re not sure how that’ll translate to real-world battery life yet, but it’s a fair bit larger than the 4,000mAh cell of its Samsung rival.
Does anyone know what it’s called? Asking for a friend. #XiaomiMIXFlip pic.twitter.com/dyriQc0rRtJuly 17, 2024
In terms of camera, it looks like the Mix Flip has the upper hand again, with a 50MP main camera, 60MP telephoto lens, and a 32MP selfie camera. We don’t know anything about sensor sizes yet, though, and megapixels aren’t necessarily indicative of quality.
The Mix Flip’s 6.9-inch AMOLED internal display, meanwhile, is marginally larger than the Z Flip 6’s 6.7-inch equivalent and features a 120Hz refresh rate. In theory, then, Xiaomi’s clamshell phone seems like a hardware successor to its Samsung rival, even though the Z Flip 6 only launched a week ago. We’re sure to see more on July 19, as well as hear when it might launch outside of China as rumoured.
Mixing with Samsung
There’s a lot more to a great foldable phone experience than specs alone, and it’s hard to draw any definitive conclusions about the Xiaomi Mix Flip, especially since HyperOS running Android 14 could be a matter of taste.
On previous phones like the Xiaomi 14, we found HyperOS to be a bit complicated with some confusing quirks, even for experienced Xiaomi users. It can also be a bit bloated, with various unwanted third-party apps clogging up the menus.
Still, Xiaomi’s software experience is otherwise pretty slick and versatile. And there’s no doubt that the Xiaomi Mix Flip, like the Mix Fold 4 announced alongside it, has a lot to offer in terms of hardware – particularly that cover display, which looks at least as good as that of the Motorola Razr Plus.
We liked the latter so much that it made our list of the best tech of 2024 so far , so that’s another promising sign for its similarly-priced Xiaomi rival. At the very least, the Mix Flip looks set to be one of the best Xiaomi phones around – and we’re eager to hear pricing and more on July 19, especially since Samsung’s recent foldable phones have risen slightly in price.