Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 5G Phone Announced With Snapdragon 855, Value Pricing, Killer Camera
Xiaomi has unveiled its pair of new flagship smartphones at MWC 2019 with the Mi 9, which we've already covered a bit, and the new Mi Mix 3 5G breaking cover today. The Mi Mix 3 5G, as the name would suggest, is a flagship, high-end smartphone and the first from Xiaomi to support 5G networks. Xiaomi says that the Mi Mix 3 5G will launch in May and will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform with a Snapdragon X50 modem on board. The smartphone maker says that it has had a team of people working on 5G since 2016 and during the launch event for this new device, it provided a live demo with a 5G phone call using a network provided by Orange Spain.
The Snapdragon 855 platform has an eight-core Kryo 485 CPU on board, promising a single core IPC lift that is up to 45% faster than the previous Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC. The SoC also has an Adreno 640 GPU, promising 20% better performance compared to the previous generation. To keep that high-performance SoC running cool, the Mi Mix 3 5G smartphone has a hybrid cooling system that uses Rogers HeatSORB thermal material with a phase change effect that can capture heat generated in high use-case scenarios and disperse that heat using a passive heat pipe that is composed of six layers of graphite.
Photography is a big focus of the smartphone with the same 12MP AI dual camera that the standard Mi Mix 3 offers that landed a DxOMark photo score of 108. That camera supports all the features Xiaomi fans expect in a camera from the smartphone maker, including 960 fps slow-motion. Selfie takers will be able to use the 24MP + 2MP dual front camera that uses the Sony IMX576 sensor to capture more details. A Qualcomm Spectra 380 ISP manages the camera to make it fast and power efficient. The Mi Mix 3 5G will launch in May starting at €599 in Onyx Black or Sapphire Blue colors.
Xiaomi also gave up more details on the Mi 9 that launched in China already. That smartphone uses an AI Triple camera with the main camera having a 48MP Sony IMX586 1/2-inch sensor that promises excellent performance in low light situations. The other sensors that the triple camera system uses include a 16MP ultra-wide angle camera and a 12MP telephoto camera. The Mi 9 scored 107 on the DxOMark website, the second highest score of all tested smartphones. Xiaomi also notes that it scored 99 on the video benchmark putting it at number one for video capture.
Xiaomi notes the Mi 9's design was Inspired by famed architect Antoni Gaudi. The company also noted the device will launch in Europe on February 28 starting at €449 ($509) for the 6GB RAM and 64GB of storage version and €499 ($565) for the 6GB RAM and 128GB version. Both versions will be offered in Piano Black, Ocean Blue, and Lavender Violet. No word on a launch date for the U.S. was given.
