Xiaomi Mix Flip Review: Stiff Competition

Xiaomi has been in the business of foldable phones since 2021. However, this is the first time one of these models has officially launched on UK shores, and it’s also a first stab at the clamshell-style build from the Chinese tech giant.  

This flip smartphone doesn’t come cheap, and with tough competition from the Motorola Razr 50 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, there are some areas where the Mix Flip falls short – though it is still a solid smartphone.  

Design & Build  

• Biggest outer display on a flip phone
• No water or dust resistance
• Two colours

The Xiaomi Mix Flip shares some similarities with the designs of the competition. It has a curved body and folds up to a neat square, measuring just 85mm once folded. The outer display is also the largest on a clamshell foldable at 4.01-inches, besting the Razr 50 Ultra by the tiniest of margins. 

Weighing just 192g, it’s also impressively light for a flip phone, making it great for taking out and about without the need for a bag – it fits in shallow pockets! My tirade against women’s jeans will never cease.  

Rather than having two horizontal camera bumps, Xiaomi has placed them vertically. They are on the chunky side, meaning they’re a big statement, but a tad annoying – more on that later.  

The crease is more prominent than I experienced on the Razr 50 Ultra, but less jarring than cheaper models such as Nubia Flip 5G. You can also feel the slightly spongey texture on the display where the hinge is.  

The hinge also isn’t quite as sturdy as what you’ll find on Motorola’s phone, feeling looser and thereby not as premium. But arguably the biggest downside of this phone is the lack of water or dust resistance, making it much more vulnerable to damage.  

The USB-C port sits on the bottom, with the volume rocker and power button on the right-hand side, which includes a built-in fingerprint scanner. This worked well, as did face recognition, though the latter is only a basic version and so can’t be used to authenticate payments or log in to banking apps.

There are two colours for the Xiaomi Mix Flip: Purple and Black, with a matching shiny chassis.

Screen & Speakers  

• 6.86-inch AMOLED internal display
• 4.01-inch external display
• Stereo speakers

Foldable phones have two displays to consider, so let’s start with the internal one. This is a 6.86-inch AMOLED display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of up to 120Hz.  

There’s also support for HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos formats, and the screen has Rheinland Certification for low blue light, flicker-free and circadian friendly, making it easier on your eyes in the evening.

The display is impressively bold, with colours and textures that suitably pop. With a peak brightness of 3000 nits, I had no trouble using the Xiaomi Mix Flip under bright sunlight.  

The 4.01-inch outer display is also bright and glossy, but the most annoying thing about it is the permanent widget bar on the right-hand side next to the camera module, meaning that the app icons are all crammed together on the left, as are the apps themselves. Even if you de-select the bar, there’s just an empty space that cannot be removed, which feels wasteful.  

This makes the apps smaller than what they could be, and therefore harder to navigate. I can’t text easily in several apps and presses on Google Maps aren’t seamless. 

In addition, you only get a limited selection of apps supported on the outer screen, though that means you lessen the chances of any weird aspect ratio issues. However, the likes of Audible, Twitch and Netflix are missing. It would’ve been nice to at least have the option to add these like you do on the Z Flip 6 or Razr 50 Ultra.

The Xiaomi Mix Flip features dual stereo speakers, which are reasonably loud and punchy and support Dolby Atmos. However, the audio isn’t as impressive or as colourful as you’ll find on phones with more speakers and extra software enhancements.   

The display is impressively bold, with colours and textures that suitably pop

Specs & Performance  

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• 12GB RAM/512GB storage

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is the chipset of choice for the Xiaomi Mix Flip, the same processor that powers the OnePlus 12, the Xiaomi 14 Ultra and the Honor Magic 6. It’s Qualcomm’s latest and greatest at the time of writing, but soon to be replaced by the 8 Gen 4.

This is paired with 12GB RAM and 512GB of storage, with no other options available.  

if you’re looking for a flip phone for gaming or heavy duty-tasks, this may be the best option at the time of writing

As with other smartphones with this chip, performance is swift and snappy. The phone quickly boots up and has no lag when switching between apps on the cover and inner displays.  

However, it is lacking with regards to cooling abilities. The absence of this is prevalent when trying to run in-demand games like Genshin Impact, with the handset quickly heating up even just after five minutes. This game can still run on the graphics setting ‘High’ with no popping or lag, though.  

In our benchmarking tests, the Mix Flip bested its biggest rivals. So, if you’re looking for a flip phone for gaming or heavy duty-tasks, this may be the best option at the time of writing:

Xiaomi Mix Flip Benchmarks

Cameras  

• 50Mp main camera
• 50Mp telephoto camera
• 32Mp selfie camera

The Xiaomi Mix Flip features dual 50Mp Leica rear cameras: one main and one 2x telephoto. This is one of many smartphone brands ditching the ultrawide lens in favour of improved zoom and portrait shots – a wise move in my opinion.  

Both cameras produce solid shots in the daytime. Colours are replicated with great accuracy, while textures and shadows are quite dynamic. The bokeh effect in portrait shots has just the right amount of blur, while zoomed shots preserve detail up to 4x, with significant deterioration only once you go past 20x.  

One of the key benefits of a flip phone is that you can use the main camera for selfies with the phone closed. You can see the difference between this and the front 32Mp one, which has a much softer effect and doesn’t manage to grasp the true-to-life tones and shadows on my face.  

If you’re taking photos of other people, you can enable a preview on the front display so the model can see the immediate result without you turning the phone around.  

Despite all that, poorer lighting conditions cause the Xiaomi Mix Flip to suffer. Bright sunlight causes lens flare, while indoors makes some subjects look washed out. Night shots also commonly get a lot of blurry elements – it takes a lot of concentration to get a clear shot, which can be difficult if you’re in a busy environment such as Soho, where I was for testing.  

The Razr 50 Ultra seemed more competent in these conditions, but neither phone can replicate the low-light quality you’d see from a flagship candybar phone, like the Google Pixel 9 Pro. 

I tried out Xiaomi’s AI eraser (the equivalent of Google’s Magic Eraser) for removing unwanted things from a photo, such as photobombers or obtrusive objects. In this photo below, the camera does a good job filling in the grass and eliminating onlookers from this selfie – except for a few stragglers that the software couldn’t pick up: 

However, this software struggles a bit with more complex surroundings, such as this black and white checkered flooring and the instruments behind the people: 

For video, the Xiaomi Mix Flip supports up to 8K video at 24fps, though you’re more likely to use 1080p or 4K at 30fps or 60fps. 720p capture at 30fps is also available, should you wish. OIS on the main camera minimises unwanted shakes and tremors without looking too unnatural. Holding the phone at a 90-degree angle (90s camcorder style) will also help with this issue.  

When using the front camera for video, a teleprompter mode is available – handy if you’re a content creator and want a script to read. It’s a shame that this isn’t available on the rear camera with the flip closed, as that offers the best capture quality. 

Battery Life & Charging  

• 4790mAh battery
• 67W charging
• No wireless charging

This phone is fitted with a 4780mAh battery. In real-world use, that got me around one and a half days’ worth of usage, which would be significantly reduced if I used it more heavily with video calls or gaming.  

That’s better than what you get from the Z Flip 6’s 4000mAh cell, which barely makes it through the day. However, it’s on par with what I got from the Razr 50 Ultra – which also has a 4000mAh cell. Figure that one out.  

Under our battery testing using the PCMark app, the phone fared better, achieving 13 hours and 58 minutes. However, that doesn’t necessarily translate to my real-world experience.  

The Xiaomi Mix Flip supports 67W charging, which gave me 47% in 30 minutes and 29% in 15. A quick charge before you go out the door should be enough to get you through the day. No wireless charging is on offer, though.

Software & Apps  

• HyperOS
• Four years of OS updates
• Five years of security updates

The Xiaomi Mix Flip faces the same problem as other phones from the brand: bloated software.  

This flip runs on HyperOS, Xiaomi’s skin over Android 14. This is a replacement for MIUI, but unfortunately, the same frustrations remain. Unlike Google’s clean software experience, there’s tons of app duplication and lots of pre-installed apps that you might not want, like Booking.com and AliExpress.  

I have no idea why Xiaomi doesn’t offer the option to refuse these apps on installation – it would certainly save users a lot of time. Xiaomi’s own apps also constantly try and push notifications on users, including the likes of weird wallpaper carousels.

Navigation on the phone is more like iOS than Android, with quick settings accessed by swiping down from the left-hand side, and notifications from the right-hand side. Searching in the Settings for particular features proved arduous, with many prompts proving ineffective.   

Like other foldable phones, the Xiaomi Mix Flip has a few nifty features that are absent from its slab models. While you can answer calls by flipping open the phone from folded, there’s also the unique option to take calls with the Mix Flip closed – useful if you’re travelling and don’t have a hand free to flip it open. The phone can be placed at a 90-degree fold when watching YouTube to enable flex mode for this app, which works well.

Unlike Google’s clean software experience, there’s tons of app duplication and lots of pre-installed apps

The outer display can’t run every single app you download, but a decent range is supported. That includes Chrome, Messenger, Instagram, Spotify and TikTok. Xiaomi also has some cute, animated animal wallpapers, something that may particularly appeal to kids. 

Like a lot of 2024 phones, there will also be a plethora of AI tools coming, including translation software and meeting summaries, though these weren’t yet on my unit….