Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 review

The competition

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 is a solid foldable smartphone that will go down in history for its impressively thin design and Leica collaboration. It has two outstanding displays, top-notch performance, great battery life and its camera seems flagship worthy with those Leica lenses and Leica's supposedly superior processing.

It sure isn't perfect - there is no waterproofing, the fold-related features are somewhat lacking, and the video recording is underwhelming.

Yet, the Mix Fold 2 is one of the most interesting foldables and has everything to stand out next to the competition.

And speaking about the competition - it is definitely not a huge crowd as there aren't many foldable offers on the market yet. The Mix Fold 2 is available starting at CNY 9,000 (about €1300) in China, which seems in line with the current flagship prices.

Of course, the first competitor that comes to mind is the Galaxy Z Fold4, which is a bit more expensive in China at about CNY 10,000 (about €1400). While its retail box might be rather lightweight, it does beat the Mix Fold 2 with water protection, better video capturing, and most importantly - superior foldable implementation on both hardware and software level. The Galaxy Z Fold4 is the ultimate foldable smartphone right now, and we do recommend it over the Fold 2 despite its thicker body.

The Huawei Mate Xs 2 is probably the most expensive foldable device at about CNY 14,000 (€2000). While it doesn't boast waterproofing, its foldable display that wraps around the outside is truly innovative and probably the most futuristic feature we've seen in many years. The Snapdragon 888 4G chipset is no longer the fastest platform, there are no Google services, and the battery life on this Xs 2 turned out rather poor. And yet, The Mate Xs 2 is worthy of its large-screen experience and unique form factor.

The Oppo Find N is the most compact foldable device of this class with a 5.49-inch cover OLED and a 7.1-inch inner OLED screen. It costs about CNY 10,000 (€1,400) in China, and it impressed us with its screens, camera quality, battery life.

Finally, the vivo X Fold is the one people should buy if they want a foldable cameraphone. Vivo has been launching incredible cameraphones lately (the X series), and the X Fold is a continuation but with a different form factor. It has a similar cover and inner display as Xiaomi's, but its quad-camera with Zeiss optics is much more promising - there is a 50MP OIS primary, a 12MP 2x tele, an 8MP 5x OIS tele, and a 48MP ultrawide cameras. The Fold is 6.3mm thin when open, and in addition to the fast wired, there is also fast wireless charging. The X Fold costs CNY 9,000 - the same as the Mix Fold 2 and we recommend it over the Mix for its all-round camera experience.

Samsung Galaxy Z Fold4 • Huawei Mate Xs 2 • Oppo Find N • vivo X Fold

Our verdict

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 is a massive upgrade over the first Mix Fold, and the fans loyal to the brand have many reasons to upgrade - larger HRR screens, faster hardware, better cameras, improved design.

And being so much better than the first Mix Fold makes this sequel attractive to newcomers and those who didn't want to be the first adopters. It offers a full-fledged cover screen and an impressive foldable one - both with 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision support. The chipset is the most current, while the Leica-powered cameras offer enough versatility.

We also liked the speaker experience, the fast charging, and the good battery life. And let's not forget that incredibly thin design and premium feel. The Mix Fold 2 is a remarkable handset.

It's not perfect, though. Its biggest issue is the cooling solution, which just cannot handle the GPU under peak loads. When that happens, the phone would kill all processes, and you need to wait out the cooldown period.

The one that's not exactly obvious at first is the foldable design itself - there is no semi-folded state, and hence plenty of cool tricks are not available on the Mix Fold 2. Worse, the phone runs on a regular Android 12 instead of the L version, meaning the Mix Fold 2 cannot support the foldable-oriented functionality the Galaxies offer.

And, finally, the video capturing experience was disappointing - both in quality and stabilization terms. Xiaomi usually offers close to excellent video recording experience on its flagship smartphones, and it's beyond us what happened for this Mix Fold 2.

So, the Mix Fold 2 is a great foldable device and a good smartphone. We are sure it will find fans across China as it is a country where sometimes software means more than hardware, and MIUI has the upper hand. It is not the best foldable, that's for sure, but it is the thinnest one. And our verdict is quite simple - if you like it, you buy it as it's a worthy device. If its imperfections bother you - look elsewhere.

But if you don't live in China, or nearby, we can't in good conscience recommend gray importing it - not like we did the Ultra models. Foldables break a lot more often than regular phones. And if this Mix Fold 2 does crack, you will end up with one fancy paperweight with nowhere to service it.

Pros

• Outstanding design.
• Class-leading Dolby Vision OLED screens.
• Reliable battery life, fast charging.
• Good speakers, Dolby Atmos.
• Excellent photo quality across all cameras.
• Rich retail bundle with a 67W charger, a premium case and a 3.5mm dongle.
• 5G, dual-SIM, IR blaster, NFC.

Cons

• China-exclusive with Chinese bloatware.
• No waterproofing.
• Cannot be operated in semi-folded state.
• GPU overheats under pressure.
• Underwhelming video quality and stabilization.