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Jun 01, 2023

Xiaomi Introduced their next

This morning, Xiaomi introduced their next generation Mix Fold 3 smartphone during a keynote in China. Throughout the event, CEO Lei Jun compared every new product to Apple's iPhone, iPad and Apple

This morning, Xiaomi introduced their next generation Mix Fold 3 smartphone during a keynote in China. Throughout the event, CEO Lei Jun compared every new product to Apple's iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Even when introducing their new Mix Fold 3, he mentioned Apple by noting that when the foldable was closed it was the same thickness of an Phone with a protective case.

As with all new foldables released thus far this year, Xiaomi made the claim of having the best hinge design in the industry. The proof, if it's not an altered photo, is that the hinge and the use of ultra-thin glass, produces no folding mark as with other foldables on the market as presented in the image below. This would be a huge selling point over their competitors.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

Lei Jun pointed out that when opened, the Mix Fold 3 display is 8.03", the equivalent of the iPad Mini that's great for work, spreadsheets, watching movies and so on. The display uses top quality E6 OLED supporting 120Hz refresh rate. The Fold 3 also uses Victus 2 protective Gorilla Glass.

The price of the Fold 3 is another major breakthrough. It starts at ¥8,999 (US$ 1,238) for 256GB storage, ¥9,999 (US$1,376) for 500GB storage and ¥11,000 (U.S.$1,530). The iPhone Pro Max with 1TB storage is US$1,499, with pricing rumored to be going higher in September.

Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold5 with 1TB storages sells for US$2,879. So Xiaomi's high-end Fold 3 is almost half the price of Samsung's at 1TB. That kind of aggressive pricing is bound to shake up the foldables market and even begin to challenge the iPhone in China and other markets that Xiaomi's smartphones are sold.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

To his credit, Lei Jun stated that while Xiaomi's phones are better than iPhone in many aspects, yet they still need 3, 5 or even 20 years to catch up with the iPhone. I don't know if the "20 years" was a translation error, but that's what was presented in the CC text translation. Jun's admission was a jaw dropping admission for a competing CEO to make.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

Xiaomi also introduced their new Pad 6 Max tablet with a 14" display. It's Keyboard offers a large trackpad and a full function key row. The new stylus offers a laser pointer feature. The tablet could be seperated from the stand.

Last Friday MacRumors posted a video report on the new Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra v. iPad Pro and it was quite evident that the 14" display was a highlight of the Samsung Tablet appreciated by the presenter, Dan Barbera. So with Samsung and Xiaomi introducing 14" tablet displays this summer, will we see the iPad follow this trend this fall or will fans have to wait until late 2024? To learn about about the new Pad 6 Max specifications and features, click here.

To review the entire Chinese Keynote that is roughly translated (and better if you turn on CC feature) or to review specific segments, click here.

Posted by Jack Purcher on August 14, 2023 at 10:02 AM in 5. Patently Extra News - Industry News+ | Permalink | Comments (0)