Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Arrives With Sliding Mechanism To Hide Front Cameras

Xiaomi has officially announced the Mi Mix 3 that features a slider to hide the front-facing cameras and deliver a true bezel-less design. The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is also one of the first Android phones to arrive with 10GB of RAM.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 comes with a 6.39-inch AMOLED display with a screen resolution of 2340 x 1080 and an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Xiaomi claims that the device features a screen-to-body ratio of 93.4 percent because the device doesn’t have a notch on its display. To achieve this bezel-less design, Xiaomi used a sliding mechanism to hide the front-facing cameras.

Unlike the Vivo Nex or the Oppo Find X, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 isn’t using motors to hide and reveal the cameras, as pointed out by The Verge. Instead, the sliding mechanism works like old school sliding phones where users will have to push it open. The handset comes with a magnetic slider design inside to keep the mechanism secure. The slider isn’t just for revealing the cameras either. Users will have the option to assign different functions when sliding the phone open. For example, users can slide the Mi Mix 3 open to answer an incoming call.

The slider houses a dual-camera module with 24-megapixel and 2-megapixel sensors. The 24MP shooter is using a Sony IMX576 sensor, which is capable of processing low-light images. The earpiece isn’t found on the slider, for it is actually placed in the slim bezel on top of the screen.

On the back, the Mi Mix 3 comes with a pair of 12MP cameras. One of them comes with a wide-angle lens, and the other comes with a telephoto zoom lens. The Mi Mix 3 cameras have achieved a score of 103 on DxOMark, the same overall score of the Galaxy Note 9 and the HTC U12 Plus, as pointed out by Android Authority.

Inside, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset with up to 10GB of RAM and 128GB/256GB of storage. The device is one of the very first phones to feature that RAM capacity. The only other smartphone to have the same RAM configuration is the Black Shark Helo, which Xiaomi announced earlier this week.

The Mi Mix 3 is packing a 3,200mAh battery that supports Quick charge 4+. The device comes with a glass back and supports Qi wireless charging. The Mi Mix 3 is also compatible with 10W quick wireless chargers. Other specs include Bluetooth 5, NFC and a USB Type-C port. Unfortunately, the headphone jack is absent from the device. On the software side of things, the Mi Mix 3 is running Android 9 Pie with the company’s MIUI 10 running on top.

The Mi Mix 3 will be available in three colors: black, green and blue. The device comes with a starting price of 3,299 yuan (around US$475) for the 6GB RAM/128GB storage model. The 10GB RAM model will be exclusive to the “Forbidden City Palace Museum” edition of the Mi Mix 3, which features a different shade of blue and includes a gold-plated statue. This version of the handset will sell for 4,999 yuan (around US$720). Pre-orders are available now in China and the handset will be released on Nov. 1.