Xiaomi has already spoiled Samsung’s month by becoming the world’s largest phone maker, surpassing its rival for the top spot. Now, the Chinese phone maker is here to rain on the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked parade and the Galaxy Z Fold 3 launch today (August 11).
The new Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 is not a foldable phone, and it's only available in China for now. But the Mi Mix 4 does steal one of the Galaxy Z Fold 3’s top rumored features with its camera-under panel (CUP) technology. While the Galaxy Z Fold 3 reportedly features a measly 4MP under-display camera, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 ups the resolution to 20MP.
As reported by The Verge, CUP is “a technology iterated through three major generations, five years, 60 patents, a $77 million investment, and hundreds of engineers.”
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However, as PhoneArena points out, the large 2-micron sensor reportedly slated for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 could let in more light, so we’ll have to see how well both phones fare in side-by-side testing.
The Xiaomi Mii Mix 4 should beat the Z Fold 3 on charging speed, too, as the latter is expected to max out at 25W. Xioami's phone offers 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging. In fact, Xiaomi claims you can get a full charge in less than 15 minutes. That would top the fastest charging phone we've tested — the OnePlus 9 Pro, which relies on 65W charging to get to a full charge in around half-an-hour.
Want more performance than the Z Fold 3’s rumored Snapdragon 888 processor? The Mix 4 steps that up to the even faster Snapdragon 888 Plus chip with a higher clock speed.
I have more bad news for Galaxy Z Fold 3 fans looking at the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4’s specs. The Mix 4 packs a 108MP main camera sensor (compared to a rumored 12MP for Samsung’s foldable) and the periscope zoom should be bigger at Xiaom's 5x vs the Fold's 2x.
Other highlights for the Mi Mix 4 include a 6.67-inch 120H OLED curved display, 8GB or 12GB of RAM and three storage options at 128GB, 256GB or 512GB. Admittedly, a curved display is not nearly as cool as one that can fold in half. And the Galaxy Z Fold 3's rumored panel should be much larger when opened at 7.6 inches.
With a release date of August 16 and a starting price of about 4,999 yuan (around $770), it’s clear that Xiaomi is trying to steal at least a little of Samsung’s thunder. And it could very well succeed.
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