Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2 was officially confirmed on 11 September alongside the Mi Note 3 and Mi Notebook Pro. It has a 12 percent smaller chin than the original Mi Mix, and a slightly smaller 5.99in virtually full-screen display. This means it now has an 18:9 rather than 17:9 aspect ratio, matching the Samsung Galaxy flagships. The difference here of course is that it is ‘only’ full-HD in resolution.
When is the Mi Mix 2 release date?
The Mi Mix 2 was announced on Monday 11 September, and will ship after 14 October. This announcement comes earlier than we had expected, given that the original Mi Mix was announced in November 2016 and a white option followed in January 2017.
Where to buy the Mi Mix 2 in the UK
It’s worth pointing out that the Mi Mix 2 will not be officially available in the UK, though you will be able to import it from GearBest which is already listing its product page for the upcoming phone and taking pre-orders. When going down this route you will need to accept that your consumer rights are different in China to they are in the UK, and that you will be liable to pay import duty which is calculated at 20 percent of the value on the shipping paperwork plus an admin fee of around £11.
How much does the Mi Mix 2 cost?
The Mi Mix 2 is available with 64-, 128- or 256GB of storage, and each has an RRP of 3299-, 3599- and 3999 RMB respectively. If it were a straight conversion to Sterling you’d be looking at prices of £383, £417 and £464 respectively, making the Mi Mix 2 significantly cheaper than UK flagships. However, you’ll pay more than this from Chinese importers The current pre-sale price for the entry-level Mi Mix 2 at GearBest is £954.26. That’s obviously rather expensive, but we would expect it to come down in price once the phone is available. Prices can fluctuate greatly on sites such as these. There is also a Mi Mix 2 Special Edition, which has a ceramic body, 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage, which costs 4699 RMB (£545).
Mi Mix 2 features and specifications
French designer Philip Starck is once again onboard for the Mi Mix 2, which is a very good thing given that the original was one of only 13 phones to win the IDEA Gold award for its design. He has helped Xiaomi to produce an ultra-slim smartphone with a 7-series aluminium frame and a 5.99in 18:9 display that is bezel-less on all sides save its chin, which is now 12 percent smaller. At the top where you would usually find the speaker, sensors and camera there is a hidden ultrasonic proximity sensor and sound-guided speaker. The selfie camera actually sits at the bottom right of the handset, as before. We’re keen to get the Mi Mix 2 in for testing, because the original had to be turned upside down to take a selfie – kind of annoying. Despite the higher screen-to-body ratio and smaller overall design, the Mi Mix 2 looks a lot like the original – right down to the 18K gold detailing on the rear camera. This is a new camera, though, and the same that was introduced with the Mi 6 ( and that phone is great for photography). It’s a Sony IMX386 sensor with four-axis OIS and 1.25um large pixels for better low-light photography. On the connectivity front there is more good news, with the Mi Mix 2 supporting 43 bands. That includes all three 4G LTE bands in the UK, so whereas we usually tell you UK users on O2, Giffgaff, Sky Mobile and Tesco Mobile won’t be able to receive 4G on a Xiaomi phone, with the Mi Mix 2 they can. The hardware is flagship-level, and exactly as we thought. You get the Snapdragon 835 10nm processor and 6GB of DDR4 RAM, along with either 64-, 128- or 256GB storage. Read next: Best new phones Marie is Editor in Chief of Tech Advisor and Macworld. A Journalism graduate from the London College of Printing, she’s worked in tech media for more than 17 years, managing our English language, French and Spanish consumer editorial teams and leading on content strategy through Foundry’s transition from print, to digital, to online - and beyond.
