Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 Experience In the name of versatility, creating the true flagship of foldable phones

Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 The ultimate flagship of foldable phones

【phoneauto】As the information about the overwhelming foldable screen floods in, have you noticed that this race is stuck in a vicious circle? In pursuit of certain aspects of extreme performance, products have abandoned some features that could enhance the user experience. The original intention of product design is no longer based on pure practicality and gradually turns to a single-dimensional ability competition.

This pursuit of extreme in certain aspects may attract consumers and increase sales in the short term, but in the long run, it does not benefit the industry. Because the pursuit of a single dimension inevitably limits the overall experience of the product, such as photography and charging methods. Over time, foldable phones may never become an indispensable product in daily life like traditional flat-screen phones.

From this perspective, a key question arises: when foldable phones sacrifice practicality for extreme experiences, who will continue to foot the bill after the novelty-seeking players lose interest?

Therefore, for foldable phones, products need to meet the more demanding needs of the general users and create a truly flagship foldable phone to avoid being positioned as “niche.” To achieve the transition from niche to mainstream, it is necessary to redefine the product experience.

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For me, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 is such a product. In addition to its stunning overall design, the top-level performance hidden in its slim body is equally surprising.

Since entering the foldable screen market, Xiaomi has subverted the inherent impressions left by previous products with each generation, pushing the foldable screen experience to new heights. Now, the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has become a daily flagship phone suitable for more people.

What do users care about the most when choosing a foldable screen as their main device? According to the “2023 China Foldable Screen Smartphone Market Insight Report,” 39.5% of users consider product durability as the most important factor when purchasing a foldable screen phone. This result is not surprising because for foldable screen phones that often cost over 10,000 yuan, if they are not durable, users would have to handle them with great care, and even outstanding designs would greatly reduce the product experience. In addition, once a problem occurs with the product, the cost of repairs is relatively high.

However, achieving reliability, which is highly valued by users, is not as simple on the product side. This is because for a flagship foldable screen device, reliability alone is not enough. The foldable form factor also determines that it must be thin and lightweight enough for everyday use. Adding thickness to the screen protective layer can certainly improve reliability, but the problem that follows is an increase in thickness and weight.

Being both reliable and thin is seemingly contradictory in foldable screen phones. However, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has achieved it.

Making the foldable screen both reliable and thin comes at a cost. In order to meet this standard, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has abandoned the previous waterdrop-style hinge design and adopted a brand-new spine hinge design. The innovative spine hinge design adopts a 3-level link hinge with 14 active joints and 198 hinge components, ensuring internal stability while greatly improving internal space utilization.

The optimization in hinge design is reflected in the product itself, whether it is unfolded or folded, it is lighter and thinner. The Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 Dragon Scale Fiber Edition has a thickness of 10.86mm when folded and 5.26mm when unfolded, and weighs only 255 grams, further evolving in terms of thinness and weight compared to the previous generation.

By reconstructing the hinge structure, the internal structure has changed from linear contact to surface contact, with a larger contact area, which can effectively disperse the impact force caused by the screen falling. In simple terms, it has a stronger resistance to “hits”. As for the hinge material, Xiaomi uses highly wear-resistant carbon ceramic steel, which allows the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 to be both lightweight and durable. It has also passed the TUV 500,000-fold folding certification, which is a good proof.

For foldable screen phones, the hinge is just one aspect of ensuring product durability, and the screen material is equally important. Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 uses different solutions for the internal and external screens. The external screen uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus2, while the internal screen uses UTG ultra-thin glass. This design is not difficult to understand. In daily carrying, the external screen is inevitably subject to friction. The Corning Gorilla Glass Victus2 has tougher characteristics and can better prevent screen damage caused by friction. It can be said to be a very user-friendly design.

Compared with the previous generation, both the hinge and the screen have undergone significant changes. Can Xiaomi solve the long-standing issue of fold creases in foldable screens? The answer is yes. The hinge has a design without holes at the pivot point, allowing the unfolded screen to be fully supported. The UTG ultra-thin glass also has excellent hardness. The combination of the two ensures the flatness of the unfolded screen. From the few days of use, there is no lag in touch when the screen is unfolded, and the center folding area is almost indistinguishable from a new device, without the appearance of obvious vertical lines seen in some products.

And the durability of Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 is not only reflected in the screen, it can be said to be comprehensive. On the back panel, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 adopts a newly designed special material, officially named Dragon Scale Fiber. It is a new composite layered material independently developed by Xiaomi, which provides strength support to the product by introducing ceramic fiber and combines with aromatic polyamide fiber to improve the overall toughness and puncture resistance of the back.

The larger foldable screen brings more stunning visual effects, but it also comes with higher power consumption. Therefore, after solving the durability problem in the physical aspect, ensuring sufficient and long-lasting battery life is also a manifestation of the durability of foldable screens. Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 not only adopts Samsung’s Eco’OLED Plus (Pol-Less Plus) ultra-low power consumption screen technology in terms of the screen, but also combines low power consumption panel design and DDIC upgrade to achieve precise power control.

At the same time, it is equipped with two Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chips and two batteries with a total capacity of 4800mAh, which dynamically manage the battery, enabling it to achieve a comprehensive battery life of 1.34 days in the large screen state (data from Xiaomi Lab). And most importantly, it fills the gap of the previous generation in terms of charging methods, supporting 50W Surge wireless fast charging, and also achieving 67W wired charging.

With the reconstruction of the hinge structure, the new material of the back panel, the diverse design of the screen, and precise power control, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has solved the long-standing practicality issues from the user’s perspective. In this aspect alone, it has already stood at the forefront of foldable screen smartphones.

After collaborating with Leica, Xiaomi’s overall imaging capabilities have made a qualitative leap. The Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 continues its excellent imaging capabilities.

First, from a hardware perspective, the main camera of the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 is equipped with a 50MP IMX800 sensor. It is accompanied by a four-camera setup consisting of a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens, a 10MP portrait lens, and a 10MP periscope telephoto lens, covering five focal lengths of 15mm, 23mm, 46mm, 75mm, and 115mm. With Leica’s joint tuning, whether it is portrait or landscape photography, the photos have a distinct Leica flavor. In addition, it also features optical image stabilization driven by SMA motors, providing noticeable feedback when adjusting the focal length.

In good daylight conditions, it adopts Leica’s classic image quality for shooting. The imaging results at different focal lengths are very impressive. From the photos, they are almost identical to the Leica style of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. If you prefer a vivid photo style, you can also choose Leica’s lively image quality, which can present richer color details in the photos.

(Sample images at different focal lengths)

In addition to the two classic Leica style modes, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra also added a “custom photography style” mode, which can also be used on the Xiaomi MIX Fold 3. For users who enjoy photography, this adds more fun. You can manually adjust the tone, hue, and texture of the photos, all of which are based on the Leica color system. They highlight individuality while also having a strong German flavor.

(Leica Monochrome Blue)

(Leica Drift Brown)

In order to create a new benchmark for folding imaging, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 is equipped with Leica Drift Brown and Leica Monochrome Blue filters. From the perspective of the captured photos, these two filters, which are mainly black and white, provide a vintage and nostalgic emotional feel, allowing users who enjoy documenting history and a realistic style to achieve better recordings with the new filters.

As for night photography, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3’s performance is also quite impressive.

(Night sample photo)

Overall, thanks to Leica’s support, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has made a qualitative leap in terms of rear camera performance, while also being highly playable. With various modes and filters, it meets the needs of most users for documenting their lives.

Actually, I’m not surprised by the imaging performance of Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 after seeing the parameters of its rear camera module. What gives me the greatest joy is that it makes up for the shortcoming of the previous generation’s lack of a lens on the internal screen. Both the internal and external screens have a 20-megapixel lens, making its photography experience more comprehensive.

For foldable screen phones, there is actually a group of users who prefer a holeless internal screen. Whether the internal screen has a camera or not is not a matter of right or wrong. However, the upgrade in hinge technology of Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 allows the product to have the ability to hover at multiple angles, so it is equipped with a lens on the internal screen, giving it better performance in scenarios such as video conferences and calls.

For a product with powerful imaging capabilities, only a superior screen can perfectly display photos. The Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has an external screen size of 6.56 inches with a resolution of 2520×1080; the internal screen size is 8.03 inches with a resolution of 2160×1916. Both the internal and external screens support P3 wide color gamut and 120Hz high refresh rate. Thanks to Samsung’s E6 luminescent material, it can achieve a peak brightness of 2600 nits. Additionally, both screens adopt the primary color mode based on CIE2015 color calibration, which makes the color reproduction of the screens excellent. From the experience, the transition between the internal and external screens has an excellent display effect without any sense of fragmentation.

The Xiaomi MIX Fold 3’s powerful imaging capabilities and outstanding display performance, combined with practical features such as hover shooting, foldable photography, waist-level framing, and external screen preview, make it a worthy imaging flagship among foldable screen phones.

As the flagship product launched in the second half of 2023, the MIX Fold 3 is equipped with the second-generation Snapdragon 8 leading version, which is not surprising. However, what exceeds expectations is that the performance of this foldable screen product is almost on par with that of straight-screen flagship phones. In the AnTuTu benchmark, the MIX Fold 3 scored over 1.6 million points. Looking at the AnTuTu July performance rankings, it is the top-ranked foldable screen phone.

Gaming has almost become one of the most frequently used scenarios for mobile products. However, during the running process, it is inevitable that the machine will continue to heat up. Therefore, in order to provide a better experience, the product needs to have efficient performance in terms of heat dissipation. However, it is difficult to achieve gaming phone-level heat dissipation performance by packing powerful heat dissipation materials into a body with a thickness of only 5.26mm.

However, Xiaomi has already done its best. The product uses a 1850m² ultra-thin stainless steel VC temperature control panel + high-density graphite heat dissipation, with a total heat dissipation area of ​​10943m². Based on actual experience, the frame rate of 120fps in “King of Glory” fluctuates slightly, and “Genshin Impact” can maintain a stable performance of 59fps for 30 minutes.

Its excellent performance in gaming ensures that there is almost no heating problem during daily use. Based on experience, after using the internal screen to browse Douyin and Taobao for 30 minutes, the temperature is 35.8℃.

In terms of signal transmission, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 has made great progress. It has added an L5 low-frequency antenna isolation zone between the high-frequency Wi-Fi and 5G antennas, avoiding mutual interference between signals. The 5G transmission speed has increased by 73% compared to the previous generation, and it also has an independent 5G mode for elevators, Qualcomm, subways, airports, and other scenarios, which is automatically activated through intelligent recognition of the area to ensure the signal performance of the MIX Fold 3.

Powerful hardware provides a foundation for unleashing product performance, and optimization at the software level can further improve efficiency. We have witnessed the great progress of MIUI FOLD on the MIX Fold 2, and on the all-new MIX Fold 3, it has a more comprehensive performance. For example, swiping horizontally with three fingers opens multi-app split screen, and when swiping left, the current application is displayed on the left, and vice versa. It also has more diverse split screen gameplay, such as intelligent floating window guidance, immersive floating window processing, automatic floating window applications, and recommended dual-app split screens, which allow users to fully utilize the advantages of foldable screen phones in different scenarios.

Among them, the feature that I like the most is the function of saving split-screen combinations. When using it, you can save commonly used dual-app split-screen modes as quick launch icons. Clicking on them will directly open the dual applications, greatly improving efficiency. In addition, there are some small features, such as when using map applications, if there is a new message notification, clicking on it will suspend the map into a small window. While replying to the message, you will not miss the navigation information.

It is worth mentioning that, based on Xiaoice’s intelligent capabilities, it also has AI-powered translation ability. After enabling this feature, it can display split-screen on the left and right screens, capturing the left screen image every two seconds and presenting the translation content on the right screen. This is undoubtedly a very useful feature for business people.

In 2019, Samsung launched the world’s first foldable smartphone for the consumer market, and now it has been more than four years. Different brands are also exploring in terms of thinness, price, folding methods, etc. However, the growth rate of foldable screen phones does not seem to match the brands’ investment. This means that a foldable screen is not only about being lighter and thinner and able to fold. It not only needs to ensure the grip experience of the device, provide a large screen experience that conventional smartphones do not have, but also have the reliable, high-performance, and excellent imaging capabilities that traditional flat-screen phones have, so as to achieve no shortcomings when folded.

Only when the above-mentioned conditions are met and the chemical effect of combining experience and functionality is released, will users naturally join the camp of foldable screen phones under the strong appeal of the powerful product. Only then can the foldable screen phone market achieve widespread popularity and growth, and all participants can share a more abundant market. At that time, foldable screen phones will truly “succeed”.

From the current perspective, Xiaomi has achieved continuous innovation in hinge design, precise and reliable internal and external screens, further refinement of content ecosystem, outstanding imaging capabilities, and exceptional performance, creating a foldable screen that is practical and durable without any shortcomings.

For consumers, the introduction of Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 provides them with more options when purchasing foldable screen products, especially for users who pursue comprehensive product performance, Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 is very suitable for them.

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