After weeks of teases, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is now official.
The Mi Mix 3 is the latest in Xiaomi's line of fullscreen smartphones. This version has a 93.4 percent screen-to-body ratio, and unlike the Mi Mix and Mi Mix 2, the Mi Mix 3 doesn't have a large chin that holds its front-facing camera. Instead, it's got a sliding mechanism that pops up to reveal the dual front-facing cameras. You can slide the phone open to answer calls, take selfies, and reveal a shortcuts drawer.
The slider design of the Mi Mix 3 uses magnetic sliders to move up and down. Xiaomi says that the Mi Mix 3 is good for 300,000 slides.
The front cameras on the slider include a 24MP main camera and 2MP secondary sensor that offer several AI camera features, like scene detection, studio lighting, bokeh, and beautify. The back of the Mi Mix 3 is home to a dual 12MP camera setup with OIS, 960fps slow-mo video capture, and 2x optical zoom. Those dual rear cameras also include features like scene detection, studio lighting, and bokeh.
Xiaomi touts that the Mi Mix 3 earned a DxOMark score of 103, which ties the Galaxy Note 9 and HTC U12+ and beats out phones like the Mi 8 and Galaxy S9+.
The full screen of the Mi Mix 3 is a 6.39-inch AMOLED panel with a resolution of 2340x1080 and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Inside the phone are flagship-tier specs that include a Snapdragon 845 processor, up to 10GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of built-in storage. There's a 3200mAh battery powering the Mi Mix 3, and Xiaomi is even including a 10W wireless charger in the Mi Mix 3 box. Rounding this out is a rear fingerprint reader, NFC, and a USB-C port.
Oh, and remember that Xiaomi teaser that said that the Mi Mix 3 would support 5G? Well, there is a 5G-capable version of the Mi Mix 3 coming, but it won't launch until Q1 2019.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 starts at 3299 yuan ($475 USD) for the 6GB/128GB model, while an 8GB/128GB version will be available for 3599 yuan ($518 USD) and an 8GB/256GB model will be sold for 3999 yuan ($576 USD). The top-end Palace Museum edition will come with 10GB of RAM, 256GB of built-in storage, and a price of 4999 yuan ($719 USD).
Xiaomi's new Mi Mix 3 looks like a solid improvement over its predecessors. By ditching the chin and putting the front cameras in a slider, the Mi Mix 3 has more of an immersive, full screen experience that folks who hate the recent notch trend in smartphones should really appreciate. Plus, it's cool to see slider phones launching again and reminding me of devices like the LG Chocolate.
Now that it's official, what do you think of the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3?