Xiaomi’s super-slim Galaxy Fold 6 rival could get a surprise global release

According to recent leaks, we are only one week away from Xiaomi releasing its next line of foldable phones. And the good news is that the Mix Fold 4, a potential Samsung Galaxy Fold 6 rival, could be getting a surprise global release, according to a prominent leaker.

Xiaomi has yet to release any of its foldable phones on a global stage, but that be about to change according to a post from the reliable Ice Universe on X (formerly Twitter). They claim that the Mix Fold 4 will be launched worldwide on July 12.

The Xiaomi Mix Fold 2 and Mix Fold 3 have only been available in China, which means most of us have been able to buy imported models. The latter has otherwise been a powerful rival to the Google Pixel Fold and Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5 . It has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, up to 1TB of storage and an 8.03-inch AMOLED folding screen.

But it seems the Mix Fold 3 will step things up a notch with an even thinner design that's just over 9mm thick when folded. By comparison, the Galaxy Z Fold 6 is expected to be 12.1mm thick when folded, or 5.6mm thick when folded, according to  leaks from April .

Xiaomi appears keen to go head-to-head with another Chinese phone manufacturer, Honor, on July 12 – that's when the latter is expected to launch the Magic V3 RSR. The Magic range of foldables from Honor has thus far been restricted to China and that is likely to be the case for the V3 as well. Until this recent leak, we expected that the Mix Fold 4 would follow the same path as both the Magic phones and the Mi Mix 3.

The world's slimmest foldable is currently the Magic V2 RSR , which measures 9.9 mm thick when folded and 4.7 mm when opened. Even the rumored Magic V3 RSR is unlikely to go any thinner.

We're looking forward to seeing how on earth Xiaomi has managed to create something thinner without compromising quality and strength. Even though the Xiaomi Mix Fold phone has yet to make it onto our list of best foldable phones , that could well change if it does indeed get a global release.

What else do we know?

Ice Universe isn't the only leaker revealing details about the rumored Mix Fold 4. Evan Blass on his X (formerly Twitter) account has said that it'll include the following specs:

• SnapDragon 8Gen 3 processor
• 50MP main camera
• Leica Summilux
• 5000mAh+
• Wireless charging
• IPX8

Xiaomi and other Chinese phone manufacturers are continuing to drive innovation in this hotly-contested space, although this set of specs is remarkably similar to the previous iteration of the phone.

The Leica-branded camera in the Xiaomi Ultra 14 is impressive, so hopefully the Mix Fold 4 will continue that trend. Like the Ultra 14, the Fold 4 is expected to have a 50MP main camera, so it's possible that its selfie camera will also have a 20MP resolution and an f/2.3 aperture.

This is proving to be a very busy time of year for the foldable phones market. Not only has Honor begun its teaser campaign for the Magic V3 foldable, Samsung is preparing to launch its Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 at Galaxy Unpacked 2024 on July 10.

What began as a niche mobile phone format shows increasing signs of going mainstream. With Xiaomi, Honor, and Samsung all continuing to invest in the space, hopefully prices will start to drop from their currently lofty heights – and who knows, maybe it could even convince Apple to finally make a foldable iPhone .

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