HIGHLIGHTS

• The Xiaomi Mi MIX 4 gets a lot of firsts for the brand.
• It is the first smartphone to sport an under-display camera.
• It is also the first phone in the world to sport Snapdragon 888+ processor.

Xiaomi’s Mi MIX smartphone range has always been considered unique and has some of the most impressive feature lists. Incidentally, the Mi MIX 4, the all-new super-premium smartphone from Xiaomi, seems to tick all the features list and some more with a package that looks amazing on paper and in real-life. Not to forget, Xiaomi had a splendid run in the last quarter in the premium segment in India, which has been one category that a lot of popular brands have been struggling with.

While Xiaomi hasn’t announced any launch plans for the Mi MIX 4 in India yet, Manu Kumar Jain, Global VP Xiaomi and MD Xiaomi India has already teased to showcase the phone in the country. But, we are hopeful that with recent success in the premium category in India, the company may eventually plan to bring this to India. Why do we say so? Xiaomi was one of the fastest-growing premium smartphone brands in the country, as per Counterpoint. The new report by the market research firm last month claimed that Xiaomi had a 14 per cent market share in the Rs 20,000 to Rs 45,000 price segment. In addition, the Mi 11 Ultra was launched earlier this year and has seen some rave reviews in India.

The timing of the launch of Mi MIX 4 is interesting from a global smartphone perspective. While Huawei is almost out of action in most markets, Samsung, on the other hand, hasn’t seen good sales numbers for its 2021 Galaxy S21 series, as per some recent reports. On top of that, Samsung has confirmed that it’s ditching the Note this year in favour of its foldable line-up of phones, including Galaxy Z Fold 3, which means the sub-Rs 1 lakh or sub-Rs 80,000 price segment in India is wide open with only players like Apple, OnePlus, and others with a handful of devices. So call it an excellent opportunity for Xiaomi or a missed opportunity for Samsung.

Mi MIX 4: What does it offer?

The all-new Mi MIX 4 brings a lot of firsts for the brand. This is the first phone with an under-display selfie camera, which Xiaomi calls Camera under the panel. The Mi MIX 4 sports a ceramic unibody design, rare in the smartphone industry, especially in India. This is also the first device in the world to pack the all-new Snapdragon 888+ processor, which is the successor to the flagship-grade Snapdragon 888. Some of the other features that ensure that Mi MIX 4 wins the spec war against all its rivals include LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB UFS 3.1 support.

The smartphone also packs what the company calls a “unique” heat dissipation structure with a large surface area within the device with the use of a graphene heat spreader. The Mi MIX 4 is also the first smartphone from Xiaomi to sport a new UWB technology that is compatible with smart home products to enable “Point to connect” features.

The Mi MIX 4 sports 19 built-in antennas and 42 bands that optimise signal quality in high traffic areas for enhanced cellular speeds. For camera enthusiasts, the Mi MIX 4 packs a 108-megapixel primary sensor alongside a 13-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera and an 8-megapixel periscope sensor with 5x optical zoom and 50x digital zoom. Under the hood, there’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ mobile platform clocked at 3GHz. Packing a 4500mAh battery, the Mi MIX 4 also supports an impressive 120W wired charging that can fully charge the smartphone in 21 minutes in default mode, while there’s a Boost Mode, which tops up the phone to 100 per cent in 15 minutes flat. To top it up, the Mi MIX 4 also sports 50W wireless charging.

Interestingly, Xiaomi hasn’t just focused on the hardware part but also taken care of experience, like the Mi MIX 4 packs speakers tuned by Harman Kardon.

Mi MIX 4: Aggressive pricing helps the overall package

If there’s something that should also go in favour of the Mi MIX 4, then it has to be the aggressive pricing, and it should help the device look far better in terms of what it offers and how much it costs. The Mi MIX 4 price starts at CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs 57,500) for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage model and goes up to CNY 6,299 (roughly Rs 72,500) for the top-of-the-line model with 12GB RAM and 512GB storage. While it’s evident that if Xiaomi launches the Mi MIX 4 in India, it will have to ship it to India, which could add a bit to the cost but could still cost less than Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, which is retailing at around Rs 1 lakh.

Overall, the Mi MIX 4 is an excellent example of how Xiaomi is evolving as a premium smartphone brand globally and should be a big worry for a brand like Samsung that used to dominate in the premium smartphone category in several markets, including India.