Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi launched its very first bezel-less smartphone – the Mi MIX – back in October 2016. Then in September last year, the company launched the Mi MIX 2. And then in March this year, Xiaomi launched the Mi MIX 2S. And now, at an event held in Beijing, Xiaomi has launched the latest addition to its MIX series. Yes, we are talking about the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3.
We have been hearing about the Mi MIX 3 since late August this year, and, after several leaks and official teasers, the Mi MIX 3 has been finally launched. The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 flaunts an almost bezel-less design, and, it also doesn’t come with a notch. Xiaomi says that the Mi MIX 3 has a screen-to-body ratio of 93.4%, and, it’s able to achieve that because the chin on MIX 3 is smaller by 4.46 mm as compared to the MIX 2S, and, there’s also no front camera on the top bezel. All that you have above the display on the top bezel is the earpiece. Well, where did the front camera go then? The answer is the slider.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 flaunts a slider design like the OPPO Find X which is its biggest highlight. The slider on the Mi MIX 3 accommodates the front cameras and are revealed when the slider is slid out. Once you are done using the cameras, you can close the slider.
That said, we are looking at a magnetic slider here on the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 which comes with neodymium permanent magnets and can be used to perform different actions like answering calls, taking selfies, accessing app shortcuts drawer, and, accessing an app quickly. Xiaomi says the slider has a sliding force of 2.6N, and, has life expectancy of 3,00,000 cycles, meaning it shouldn’t malfunction before you open and close it 3,00,000 times.
The Mi MIX 3 also comes with five preset sound effects that are played when you open and close the slider.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3, like previous MIX series smartphones, is a flagship, and it comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC under-the-hood. The smartphone is offered in four different configurations – 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage, 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage, and, 10 GB RAM + 256 GB storage. The Mi MIX 3 becomes the second smartphone in the world to come with 10 GB of RAM. First is Xiaomi’s Black Shark Helo gaming smartphone that was announced two days ago.
The 10 GB RAM variant of the Mi MIX 3 is called the ‘Palace Museum Edition’. It comes in Blue color and has a gold-colored Xiezhi (also called Haetae, which is a legendary creature in Chinese and Korean mythology) at the back.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 comes with a 6.39-inch AMOLED display that has aspect ratio of 19.5:9 and a resolution of 2340 x 1080 pixels. And, like we already said, the smartphone doesn’t come with a notch. The smartphone flaunts a ceramic back, with the frames made out of 7-series aluminium. The Mi MIX 3 also comes with a hardware button on its left side that can be used to trigger Xiaomi’s Xiao AI voice assistant. However, this feature is limited to China, so it remains to be seen what purpose will this button serve in other countries.
In terms of optics, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 comes with quad cameras – two each on the front and back. The dual camera setup on the front consists of one 24 MP and one 2 MP DOF camera, whereas the dual camera setup at the back consists of two 12 MP cameras. That said, unlike the front cameras that are placed on the slider, the rear cameras are placed on the back of phone in the top-left corner.
As is with other smartphones launched this year, the Mi MIX 3 also comes with some AI-based camera features in tow. The front cameras come with features like AI Scene Detection, AI Studio Lighting, AI Dynamic Bokeh, AI Beautify, AI Video Beautify, and, AI Catchlight. On, the other hand, the cameras at the back come with AI Scene Detection, AI Studio Lighting, and AI Dynamic Bokeh. And yes, the rear cameras can also record slow-motion video at 960 frames/second. The rear cameras have also got a DxOMark rating of 103.
The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is offered in three colors – Onyx Black, Jade Green, and Sapphire Blue. And, it ships with a 3200 mAh battery with support for 10W wireless charging. Xiaomi has included a 10W wireless charger with the box so you don’t have to go searching for a compatible one.
Lastly, and most importantly, Xiaomi said that Mi MIX 3 with 5G support will be launched in Q1 of 2019. Well, this does mean that all the models of Mi MIX 3 launched today are capped to 4G speeds.
Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Specifications
- CPU: Snapdragon 845 octa-core processor
- RAM: 6/8/10 GB
- GPU: Adreno 630
- Operating System: MIUI 10 based on Android 9.0 Pie
- Display: 6.39-inch Full-HD+ (2340 x 1080 pixels) Always-On AMOLED display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 103.8% NTSC color gamut, 60,000:1 contrast ratio, HDR support and 600 nits brightness
- Rear Camera: 12 MP (Sony IMX363, wide-angle lens, f/1.8 aperture, 1.4 μm pixel size, Dual Pixel Auto-focus) + 12 MP (Samsung S5K3M3+, telephoto lens, f/2.4 aperture, 1.0 μm pixel size, optical zoom) with 4-axis OIS, AI Scene Detection, AI Studio Lighting, AI Dynamic Bokeh, AI Background Music, 960 FPS Slow-Motion Video Recording and LED flash
- Front Camera: 24 MP (Sony IMX576, 1.8 μm pixel size) + 2 MP (depth-of-field camera, 1.75 μm pixel size) with AI Scene Detection, AI Studio Lighting, AI Dynamic Bokeh, AI Beautify, AI Video Beautify, AI Catchlight and customized high CRI Selfie-light
- Internal Storage: 128 GB (with 6 and 8 GB RAM variant), 256 GB (with 8 and 10 GB RAM variant)
- SIM: Dual Nano
- Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, Multi-frequency GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac (4×4 MIMO), Multi-function NFC, USB Type-C
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner, Xiao AI with dedicated hardware button, aptX, aptX HD
- Colors: Onyx Black, Jade Green, Sapphire Blue, Palace Museum Edition
- Battery: 3200 mAh with Quick Charge 4+ and 10W Wireless Charging
Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Price and Availability
- Price of 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant: ¥3299 (around $474/₹34,754)
- Price of 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant: ¥3599 (around $518/₹37,915)
- Price of 8 GB RAM + 256 GB storage variant: ¥3999 (around $575/₹42,129)
- Price of 10 GB RAM + 256 GB storage variant (Palace Museum Edition): ¥4999 (around $720/₹52,664)
- Availability: Goes on sale in China from November 1. No word on availability in other markets.
Updated on October 26: Added information about Xiezhi on the back of the Palace Museum Edition which we previously referred to as a gold-colored lion.
