Xiaomi’s New Folding Phone Is Slimmer Than Samsung’s

Xiaomi/Screenshot by CNET

Xiaomi unveiled its latest foldable phone Monday, as part of an annual event that saw CEO Lei Jun take the stage. The Mix Fold 3 is a book-style foldable phone designed to compete with Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5, except it will not be available globally. As usual, Xiaomi is releasing it only in China, where it will start at 8,999 yuan, which converts to approximately $1,240, £980 or AU$1,920.

The Mix Fold 3 has two screens: a 6.56-inch cover screen that opens up into an 8-inch tablet-like display. When closed, the device measures 10.86mm (versus 11.2mm last year), making it among the slimmest commercially available book-style foldable phones. That’s significantly thinner than Samsung’s recently launched Galaxy Z Fold 5, which is comparatively chunky at 13.46mm. However, the title of lightest and slimmest book-style folding phone is retained by Honor’s Magic VS 2, which measures 9.6mm thick when folded. 

Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun says the Mix Fold 3 is just 5.4mm thin when unfolded.

Xiaomi/ Screenshot by CNET’s Sareena Dayaram

Xiaomi credits its upgraded hinge for helping achieve the slim design, which allows for a tighter fold on the flexible display panel. The company also says the hinge’s new rod structure improves durability and flexibility of the phone. Xiaomi says 14 micro-hinges “significantly” improve the hinge’s degree of freedom and reduces the risk of damage if dropped. Xiaomi says the Mix Fold 3 has been tested to withstand 500,000 folds, which handily beats the 200,000 folds promised by Samsung for the Z Fold 5.

There’s still no official IP rating for water and dust resistance, however. By comparison, Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 5 has an IPX8 rating for water resistance. 

Xiaomi/ Screenshot by CNET’s Sareena Dayaram

The Mix Fold 3 runs on the Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, the same one found in Samsung and Motorola’s latest foldable phones. It also has quad camera setup, a 4,800-mAh battery complete with support for superfast wired and wireless charging. 

Xiaomi Mix Fold 3 key specs

• Outer display: 6.56-inch AMOLED, 2,520×1,080 pixels, 2600 nits peak brightness, 120Hz.
• Inner display: 8.02-inch AMOLED, 2,160×1,916 pixels, 120Hz.
• Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
• Camera: 50-megapixel wide, 12-megapixel ultrawide, 10-megapixel telephoto, 10-megapixel periscope-style telephoto.
• Battery: 4,800 mAh (67-watt wired charging, 50-watt wireless charging).