Xiaomi MIX Fold 2: Launch date, form factor and Leica cameras for upcoming flagship foldable smartphone

Yesterday, both Xiaomi and Lei Jun, the company's CEO, teased the latter's annual speech. Billed as an opportunity to 'share life stories you've never heard before', it seems that Jun and Xiaomi have plenty more up their sleeves than just a speech. So far, Xiaomi has teased three new devices on Weibo, including the follow-up to the Mi MIX Fold. Announced last year but only sold in China, the Mi MIX Fold offered an 8.01-inch foldable display with a 5,020 mAh battery and a 108 MP primary camera, among other features.

As Xiaomi's teasers show, its replacement will be the MIX Fold 2. So far, Xiaomi has not confirmed too many details about the MIX Fold 2. However, it has released a teaser video and a few preview images. Supposedly, the MIX Fold 2 is 5.4 mm thick when unfolded, approximately 15%, or 1 mm, thinner than the Galaxy Z Fold3. For context, the Surface Duo 2 measures 184.5 x 145.2 x 5.5 mm when lying flat. Hence, the MIX Fold 2 and Surface Duo 2 are about as thin as each other. As such, the MIX Fold 2 is barely as thick as its USB Type-C port, which Xiaomi has centred on the device's right-hand portion.

Still, it appears that the MIX Fold will follow the form factor of device's like the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold4 and the Vivo X Fold, rather than striking out on its own like Oppo has with the Find N. Incidentally, Xiaomi has highlighted its in-house folding display technology, translated as a micro-droplet fold. Ultimately, it remains to be seen whether this new technology reduces the visibility of a crease when the display is unfolded. For reference, it seems that Samsung has not overcome this yet with the Galaxy Z Fold4. The MIX Fold 2 will debut in China on August 11 at 19:00 CST (11:00 UTC), where Xiaomi will undoubtedly showcase the device's Leica-tuned cameras too.

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