Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, folding duel: this is how Xiaomi’s bet is against Samsung’s

It was a little begging, but Xiaomi’s first folding mobile is here: the new one Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold, with a mobile format that unfolds to go from mobile look to tablet look. It’s the same bet that Samsung made with your first Samsung Galaxy Fold, back in 2019.

Not counting reissues and 4G / 5G versions, Samsung already has three iterations of folding mobiles: Galaxy Fold, Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold 2, while Xiaomi makes its debut in style with its MIX Fold. With a starting price in principle much lower than the Galaxy Fold, the question is inevitable: How is the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold against the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2?

It is bigger

The premise of the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the same: instead of emulating the “shell” mobiles of yesteryear, like the Motorola Razr or the Galaxy Z Flip, are similar in size to a normal mobile when folded, but unfold to show a larger screen, offering an experience similar to that of a tablet.

Samsung has been somewhat stricter in this interpretation, since the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 has, when folded, the size of a normal mobile (159 x 68 mm), although it is inevitably twice as thick as normal. Xiaomi’s folding is quite large even when folded, with folded dimensions of 173 x 69 mm. For reference, the latest Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 measured 157.9 x 74.7mm. It is also a bit heavier: both terminals are forceful, but we are talking about 282 grams in the Samsung and 317 in the Xiaomi.

The size is not in vain. In exchange for being bigger, the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold includes screens with greater diagonal on both sides: the main one of 8.01 inches compared to 7.6 inches in the Samsung folding, and the secondary screen of 6.52 inches, compared to the 6.2 that the Galaxy Z Fold 2 has.

Interestingly, there is a dance of refreshment frequencies. Samsung increases the refresh rate of its main screen to 120 Hz, while Xiaomi there maintains 60 Hz and raises those of the secondary screen to 90 Hz. In the resolutions there are no big changes, taking into account the difference in sizes, although Xiaomi also increases the touch sampling rate in both panels (120 Hz in the main one and 180 Hz in the secondary one), something that is not in the folding of Samsung.

More raw power, but no wireless charging

Considering that the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold was announced yesterday and that the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 arrived in september of last year, it is clear that the Chinese model has the advantage in terms of power, having access to the latest and most powerful from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 888. Instead, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 featured the most powerful of its time, the Snapdragon 865+.

It’s not just the processor. The Xiaomi folding raises the bar in RAM and storage because, although it has the 12 + 256 GB version, like the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, there are also 12 + 512 GB and 16 + 512 GB. 16 GB of RAM LPDDR5, something that is still available to very few mobiles today.

Being a larger terminal, it is foreseeable that the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold includes a larger battery: it is 4,500 mAh in the Samsung folding and 5,020 mAh on the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold. In addition, it charges substantially faster, since Xiaomi’s fast charge is 66W, while it remains at 25W in the Samsung.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold includes top-notch fast charging, but for some reason forget about wireless charging, even though the company announced various wireless chargers during its mega presentation. The Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 supports 11W wireless charging.

More megapixels and one less lens overall

Samsung did not eat much of the head with the lenses of the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2: 12 megapixel triple sensor with wide angle and telephoto. Xiaomi has used its folding model to brand new technologies: Surge brand’s own processor and an additional innovation in your lenses: liquid lens, able to change its properties on the fly.

We have more gross megapixels, with a 108 megapixel main sensor and three sensors for four functions: wide angle, 3x optical zoom and 8 megapixel macro photography equivalent to 80mm. We will have to wait until we can analyze this camera to see if it is better or worse than Samsung’s (which we scored a 9 in our analysis), but on paper it seems that Xiaomi has placed more emphasis on this section.

If we talk about the front camera -which is a relative concept in folding mobiles- we have a fundamental difference. Xiaomi includes a single front camera, accessible with the terminal folded, while the Samsung Z Fold 2 has a front camera both folded and unfolded. If you unfold the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold in tablet mode, you don’t have a front camera. It is, therefore, one less lens, although in exchange for twice the resolution, of 20 megapixels.

Comparison table

As always, we leave you the complete comparison table so that you can at a glance see other differences between the two models, such as what the Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold has four speakers and the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2 has two. The difference in the starting price is also important, although we will have to wait to have the price in euros (if it is sold globally) to be able to make a more fair comparison.

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Xiaomi Mi MIX Fold vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, folding duel: this is how Xiaomi’s bet is against Samsung’s

was originally published in

Engadget Android

by
Ivan Ramirez

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