Xiaomi has introduced its brand new folding smartphone MIX Fold 3, which received a number of rather important changes. For example, the manufacturer showed an advanced hinge, which, thanks to a special shape, allows the folding display to be less wrinkled, while reducing the gap between the two halves of the device. Due to this, the company managed to reduce the thickness of the gadget when folded to 10.96 mm (5.26 when unfolded). The case has been slightly changed at the same time – the company uses two color options (golden Xingyao Gold and black Moon Shadow Black), an ultra-thin metal frame, a special technological process for painting panels and glass on the back of the device with curved edges.
As part of the presentation of the new smartphone, the representative of Xiaomi, which is quite expected, devoted the lion’s share of time to the design of the hinge, which, at least in the renders, looks like a real work of engineering art. The company’s developers have implemented a three-stage design with 14 moving components and 198 hinge elements, which are made of special wear-resistant carbon-ceramic steel. Thanks to this, the hinge in the new flagship can withstand up to 500,000 thousand folds and unfolds, it can hold the display at an angle from 45° to 135°, it has much less impact on ultra-thin flexible glass, which leads to a reduction in the center crease and at the same time takes up 17% less space, making the smartphone thinner.
Xiaomi also worked hard on the displays of the device – the internal screen after unfolding provides a diagonal of 8.03 inches with a resolution of 2K, while the external screen received a comfortable diagonal of 6.56 inches. The manufacturer also promised a maximum display brightness of 1300 nits (2600 peak value in automatic brightness adjustment mode), adaptation of applications to screen capabilities and smart multitasking.
The fact is that Xiaomi, apparently, collaborated with the developers of popular software so that it could adapt its interface to the external or internal screens of a folding flagship – for example, applications with a video player can split the screen into two zones to make it easier to manage content. The only problem is that the lion’s share of this software is Chinese services.
The performance of the foldable smartphone is based on the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, which is currently the best solution on the Android smartphone market. Although the chip is quite energy efficient and relatively cool, the company still implemented an advanced cooling system that dissipates heat more efficiently throughout the case. The system also integrates a combination of four 5G antennas, which should significantly improve communication and data exchange speed.
“Under the hood” of the smartphone is a 4800 mAh battery, which provides the gadget with a decent battery life – Xiaomi said that we are talking about a whole day of active use. At the same time, the gadget will receive fast charging technology, but, unfortunately, it does not pull on a record. In wired mode, the smartphone receives 67 watts of energy, while when using wireless charging – only 50 watts. However, there are not many gadgets on the market that can charge faster.
The foldable flagship features a four-camera system (main camera, ultra wide-angle lens, and two telephoto lenses at 3.2x and 5x), which are equipped with advanced Leica lenses made from ultra-clear glass. There is also optical image stabilization, an impressive aperture at all focal lengths and an impressive set of presets for professional shooting.
Moreover, the company said that now the user does not need a stand for photographing – just fold the smartphone at the desired degree and get some kind of stand for group photos, beautiful shots against the backdrop of nature and more. True, whether the owners of the flagship will put the gadget with a screen on stones or other hard surfaces is an unanswered question.