This afternoon, Xiaomi officially released the new top-end smartphone, namely the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 in the Forbidden City Museum. It’s considered to be a business flagship, but there are too many attractive features that should be interesting to everyone.

In terms of appearance, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 uses a sliding full-screen, with a magnetic power design. The magnetic power rail design that is using the ‘Magnetic King’ NdFeB is capable of providing up to 300.000 sliding operations. This screen also supports ‘slide and launch’ option, which allows to select a certain app and launch it when sliding.

Lei Jun said that the slider design is the pursuit of the ultimate photo experience on a genuine fill-screen. In fact, as early as February 1, 2018, Xiaomi applied for a full-screen slide patent and was the first manufacturer to make a full-screen smartphone. Xiaomi also customized 5 kinds of sliding screen sound effects for the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3, including technology, rivers and lakes, machinery, smart, and lighter.

The AMOLED display size is 6.39 inches, and it comes with a screen ratio of up to 93.4%. The bottom is shortened to 4.46mm. So the front is almost occupied by the display. Its thickness is 8.46mm, and the phone weighs 218 grams. On the back, our protagonist uses a ceramic material in black, emerald, and sapphire blue. On the side, it carries an exclusive AI button to wake up the Xiao AI assistant.

Actually, Xiaomi has applied for a full-screen patent back in 2014 and for a pop-up full-screen patent in 2015. In February this year, he applied for a slide-screen full-screen related patent. Lei Jun said that the sliding full-screen is currently a brand-new comprehensive screen solution.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 is also very powerful when it comes to the hardware and performance. The highest configuration is the Snapdragon 845 + 10GB + 256GB. Thus, we are dealing with the world’s first 10GB smartphone. There is also a 3200mAh battery, which supports up to 10W wireless charging.

This handset also features the strongest AI dual-camera identical to the Mi MIX 2S. At the same time, the manufacturer has also added a 24MP + 2MP selfie camera to the front, which comes with a soft light. The main sensor of the front camera module is the Sony IMX576. Lei Jun has said the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 scores 108 points at DxOMark. But when visiting the site, we see only 103 points. Anyway, it ranks third. The main camera has got an algorithm improvement as well as 960 fps slow-motion shooting option. The rest of the key features of the main camera remain the same. They include a four-axis OIS, optical zoom, etc. The front camera supports real-time video blur, AI video beauty, AI scene camera, AI portrait mode, AI studio light effect, AI dynamic light spot, AI nude makeup beauty, and AI angel eye light.

At the press conference, Lei Jun said the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S has some difficulties to provide equal scores to the iPhone X, though surpassing Huawei’s P10: ‘In fact, it is quite uncomfortable.’ But he asked Huawei and other manufacturers whether they can get that award this year too.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 has a few variants. The 6GB+128GB model is priced at 3299 yuan, the 8GB+128GB 3599 yuan, and 8GB+256GB 3999 yuan. They will be available for pre-order starting today. But these phones will appear on shelves only on November 1.

Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Forbidden City Edition

The special edition of Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Palace (aka Forbidden City) is a fusion of technology and art. Based on the original version of Xiaomi Mi MIX 3, it incorporates the Forbidden City element, the sapphire blue curved glass body, and the special color of the ceramics of the Palace Museum.

It is a mythical beast in ancient Chinese legends. It has a long horn, can distinguish between integrity and evil, and is regarded as a sacred animal that can deter evil.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 special edition comes with a 10GB of RAM and a 256GB of internal storage. The rest of the features are the same. But this variant comes in various gift boxes that include a 24K gold bronze statues, theme download cards, a 10W wireless charger, and a smartphone protective case.

The Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 Palace will be on sale in November, priced at 4,999 yuan.

Xiaomi 5G Smartphone

Prior to this, Lenovo had come up with the Moto Z3, which was claimed to be the world’s first 5G smartphone. But it was implemented with the Moto Mod back cover baseband, which is not strictly a real 5G phone. A few days ago, OnePlus also announced that their 5G smartphone will be the first commercially launched models. Today, Xiaomi previewed its own 5G smartphone.

Lei Jun said that on September 3 this year, Xiaomi opened the connection of 5G signaling and data link in the band below 6GHz. On October 23, it opened the mmWave millimeter band connection, which laid a solid foundation for 5G to enter the phone.

The details of Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G version are not disclosed, but from the current progress, it must be based on the next generation Qualcomm flagship processor, namely Snapdragon 855), with the X50 baseband. Qualcomm also disclosed that this combination will be officially unveiled in the fourth quarter of this year. As for Xiaomi, Lei Jun said that Xiaomi MIX 3 5G version is expected to be listed in the first quarter of 2019.