Xiaomi’s highly-anticipated Mi Mix 2 is now officially unleashed. It is a significant upgrade from its predecessor in almost every way, featuring a handsome new design with a 18:9 aspect ratio display.
The Chinese company has been quietly hard at work on the Mi Mix 2, after the surprising success of the original. Despite keeping a similar overall look, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 definitely looks a lot more refined from the original Mi Mix.
One of the challenges for the Mix 2 was in reducing the “chin” of the phone. The Chinese company shaved off the chin by 12% on the Mi Mix 2 by employing some interesting new technologies. There’s a new front camera module that’s 1.5mm shorter, while a new antenna design shaved off another 1.3mm. Finally, Xiaomi used a new chip-on-film (COF) display driver that reduced the chin by another 1mm.
Interestingly, there’s a physical speaker that’s slightly hidden at the top of the screen, instead of the piezoelectric one on the original Mix. According to Xiaomi, the piezoelectric speaker setup – where sound is resonated around the metal frame – allowed people nearby the device to be able to hear what’s being played on the speaker. As a result, the Mi Mix 2 employs a “sound-guided speaker”, where a membrane speaker located underneath the screen is connected to the sound hole via a sound guiding tube.
On the other hand, the ultrasonic proximity sensor is retained, as it allowed the sensor to be placed beneath the display.
Round the back, not much has actually changed. There’s a rear fingerprint sensor located beneath the single rear camera sensor. Yes, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 uses a single-sensor rear camera setup; its sensor is the same as the primary sensor on the Mi 6: the Sony IMX 386 paired with 4-axis OIS.
As for the hardware, it’s what you’d expect from a flagship smartphone. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 is powered by a Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, and storage options of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB. The display is a 5.99-inch 18:9 display with a 2160 x 1080 resolution, while the battery is rated at 3,400mAh. It charges via USB Type C, but there’s no headphone jack.
It also has global LTE support which totals a whopping 43 bands – hinting that the Mi Mix 2 may not just be a China-only product.
While the Mi Mix 2 uses a 7-series aluminium alloy frame with a ceramic back, Xiaomi has also crafted a special edition of the Mix 2 – with a full ceramic unibody. Creatively called the Mi Mix 2 Special Edition, it retains the same hardware specs of the Mix 2, but bumps the memory to 8GB of RAM and with only one storage option at 128GB.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 will be available in three configurations: 6GB RAM + 64GB storage, 6GB RAM + 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM + 256GB storage. They will retail for 3,299 Yuan (about RM2,130), 3,599 Yuan (about RM2,320), and 3,999 Yuan (about RM2,580) respectively. International availability for the device was not announced.
