Last month, Xiaomi CEO Lu Weibing confirmed that the company planned to release new devices under its Mi Mix and Mi Pad series this year. Additionally, Weibing teased that Xiaomi would bring a foldable smartphone to market, a prototype of which someone was caught using on Chinese public transport in January. While Weibing seemed to suggest that Xiaomi would release its first foldable smartphone under a new series, an industry insider believes otherwise.
According to Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC), Xiaomi may sell its upcoming foldable as the Mi Mix 4 Pro Max. Implicitly then, Xiaomi will probably release a Mi Mix 4 and perhaps even a Mi Mix 4 Pro. Otherwise, releasing a Mi Mix 4 Pro Max as a standalone product would seem rather redundant, in our eyes.
However, the Mi Mix 4 Pro Max will not be the device pictured below. Young adds that Xiaomi has contracted Samsung Display to supply inwardly folding displays for this device, but not until later this year. Conversely, Xiaomi has sourced displays from China Star for the Mi Mix 4 Pro Max, which will have the same form factor as the Huawei Mate Xs. Hence, it seems that Xiaomi has at least two foldable smartphones in the pipeline, although the one pictured below will be larger than the Mi Mix 4 Pro Max.
Based on what Young has tweeted, we suspect that the Mi Mix 4 Pro Max will resemble the Mi Mix Alpha but with the Mate Xs' foldable functionality. This would be a natural evolution of the Mi Mix Alpha, in our opinion, even if Huawei moved away from the Mate Xs' design now with the Mate X2.