Xiaomi announces Mi Mix — an astonishing phone with nearly bezel-less display

Xiaomi held an event on 25th October to announce two new devices, one of which is Xiaomi Mi Mix — a device with nearly edge to edge display.

Along with Mi Max, Xiaomi also announced Mi Note 2, a curved screen phone reminiscent of Galaxy Note7 and S7 edge. But the real star of the show was obviously Mi Max. Before talking about its specifications, let’s take a look at its design, which is the main attraction of this unique phone.

Design

The most striking thing about the design of Mi Mix is its nearly edge to edge display. The phone screen, measuring 6.4 inches diagonally, comprises 91.3 percent of the size of the phone, the highest for any smartphone yet. Despite having a screen this large, the Mi Mix is about the same size as the Galaxy Note7, Mi Note 2 or the iPhone 7 Plus.

To achieve such small bezels, Xiaomi had to cut some corners and relocate the earpiece, proximity sensor and the front camera from the face of the device.

The earpiece has been moved inside the devices and uses a new technology based around Cantilever Piezoelectric Ceramic drive unit. This will allow phone to use bone conduction to transmit sound directly to ear canal. This will enhance the sound quality and prevent degradation of quality due to ambient noise.

The proximity sensor has been replaced by an ultrasonic proximity sensor which can work through solid surfaces. This also increases the accuracy and sensitivity as compared to previous infrared models. The front camera has been moved to the bottom of the screen and its sensor has been made 50 percent smaller to allow more screen space.

The smartphone is completely made form glossy ceramic material which provides strength and durability to house the (almost) completely glass front panel. Xiaomi claims that almost 30 percent of the phone’s whole cost originates from use of this much ceramic.

Specifications

Mi Mix does not hold back when it comes to specifications. A brief overview of its specifications is:

• Dual SIM support with dual standby
• 6.44 inches HD (1080 x 1920 pixels) IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen
• Hexa-core Qualcomm MSM8956 Snapdragon 650
• 32/64 GB internal storage with micro SD card support up to 256 GB (uses one of the sim slots)
• 4 GB LPDDR4 RAM
• 16 MP primary camera with f/2.0 aperture, capable of shooting 2160p videos at 30fps with 120fps slow motion videos at 720p
• 5MP front camera with videos up to 1080p at 30 fps
• Fingerprint sensor
• Non-removable Li-Ion 4850 mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0

Mi Max 18K

Mi Max 18K is still under development and will come with aesthetic and internal improvments . The 18K version uses 18K gold rims around the camera and the fingerprint sensor (located at the back of the device). It also comes with 6GB RAM and 256 GB of internal storage.

Price and availability

The regular Mi Max will cost RMB 3,499 (around Rs. 54,100), while Mi Max 18K will cost about RMB 3,999 (around Rs. 61,800) at launch. The Mi MIX will be available in China on November 4th. Considering Xiaomi does not have official presence in Pakistan, we do not have a definitive date for its arrival in Pakistan. However, sites like Cheezmall are expected to sell the device soon after its release.