Xiaomi Mix Flip: If flip phones are this good, why buy a normal one?

There are still reasons not to get a flip phone.

But pick up Xiaomi's new flip phone - a first for the Chinese smartphone giant - and you'll soon notice your worries about this relatively new tech are disappearing.

Now that rival manufacturers have proven there is an alternative to the classic glass slab phone that actually works, Xiaomi is launching its Mix Flip globally, after it arrived in China a few weeks ago.

At first you might think: How good can a first-generation flip phone from a Chinese manufacturer known for budget tech really be? Surely the hinge creaks, the plastic screen quickly picks up scratches and plenty of corners are being cut.

Not here. Xiaomi's debut with the Mix Flip is perhaps the best any manufacturer has had with a flip phone with a combination of high-end hardware, flagship-level cameras and clever software.

All this is great, you're thinking - so where's the catch?

The flip side

Unfortunately there are still a few drawbacks to having any flip phone. A plastic screen designed to fold will never feel quite as smooth as a regular one, especially given the central "crease" along which the screen folds.

Then again, the bump on this phone's screen is remarkably hard to notice, and is essentially invisible when watching content.

Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations with this phone is that you can't practically open it with just one hand. Flipping it closed is highly satisfactory (especially as a way to end a call), but the rather stiff hinge means you essentially need two hands to access the full scope of this phone.

Virtually all regular flagship phones these days are unlocked using a fingerprint sensor under the screen, but you won't find one here: Flip phones generally use a fingerprint sensor on the side, here one that doubles as an unlock button. This shouldn't be a problem for most users, however, even left-handed ones.

The star feature: The outer screen

Probably the most impressive part of the phone is the outer screen.

It's not just because of the 4-inch screen's design, which elegantly wraps between two camera lenses. But it's also impressive for just how useful it is - and how little you find yourself opening the inner screen.

Xiaomi has designed several widgets to utilize the maximum amount of space. The likes of WhatsApp, Spotify and Google Maps can all be used without having to unlock your phone.

Unlike Samsung's more widget-oriented approach, Xiaomi allows users to use the outer screen as if it's a larger phone screen.

The corner above the cameras is taken up by a series of handy widgets, including an app switcher that makes it surprisingly easy to multi-task on the outer screen.

Oddly, the 6.86-inch inner screen is perhaps the more jarring one, given its unusually tall format. Adding to the two-handedness of this phone, your thumb barely reaches above the central crease without a big stretch.

A weirdly normal-feeling phone

Unfolded, this phone feels surprisingly normal and you wouldn't notice at first sight that it can fold closed.

Setup is similar most other Android phones, with the addition of a warning screen telling you not to peel off the screen protector or to press on the inner screen with hard objects.

In other words, that 6.8-inch inner screen - like on all folding devices - is highly sensitive. Never leave it unfolded in your pocket or bag, Xiaomi warns. House keys will leave more than just a scratch.

Both screens have everything you'd expect from a flagship - decent peak brightness of 3,000 nits, a 120 Hz refresh rate for smoother swiping and a quality resolution of 460 ppi.

The Mix Flip, unlike Xiaomi's new 14T phones, comes with its own 67W fast charger. The huge 4,780 mAh battery is even bigger than Samsung's one in its large book-style folding phone. Sadly there's no wireless charging though. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip with 12 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage makes for an overall smooth experience.

The hidden benefit of two screens

There's another benefit to a folding phone that only starts to emerge after you've been using it for a few days. You start to use the smaller outer screen for quick tasks - answering a message, putting on music, looking for directions.

The bigger screen meanwhile becomes your more immersive space, a place for watching content, composing a longer email or allowing yourself to be pulled into a social media vortex. After a while, you realise it's helpful to have a boundary between the two.

Another benefit to a flip phone like this is that you can fold it closed at any angle, meaning you can fold it half open and turn it into a desktop clock or webcam.

One area where you might feel like a sacrifice has been made is with the camera. Instead of the usual flagship trio of ultrawide, normal lens and zoom, the Mi Flip has two 50-MP lenses: one regular shooter (wide) and another telephoto lens (with about a 2X zoom).

This makes the Mix Flip great for portraits and slight landscape zooms, but the lack of a wide-angle makes it less useful for the likes of group selfies and photos in small spaces.

For a wide-angle lens from Xiaomi, you'd need to check out the new 14T Pro or consider Xiaomi's camera champ, the 14 Ultra.

The cost of the fold

This is possibly the best debut for a flip phone any brand has had, and it arrives without the raw and risky feel of previous new flip phones from other brands.

Having already made four generations of folding phones (albeit book-format ones that open out into a near tablet-sized screen), Xiaomi knows what it's doing.

The Chinese manufacturer, long seen as a budget brand, is trying to take on Apple and Samsung in terms of high-end design. In August, Xiaomi even briefly overtook Apple to become the world's number two smartphone brand in terms of sales, according to analysts.

But for all its stand-out design: There's one more disadvantage to folding phones we didn't mention yet: the price.

The Mix Flip costs €1,300 at launch in Europe, similar to the launch price of Samsung's Galaxy Z Flip6, which has since dropped to under €800.

That means you're paying about €500 more than you would for the non-flipping 14T Pro, launching at €800 with comparable specs. The standard 14T starts at €650. The Xiaomi 14 from earlier in 2024 is now also available for around €700 - all great phones, too bad they don't also fold.