Xiaomi was among the first few to start the bezel-less display trend, even before Apple adopted it for the iPhone X. The Chinese tech giant has since been releasing upgrades to the Mi MIX series and the latest one is due for this year. Rumours are rife about the Mi MIX 3 smartphone, but here's good and bad some news from Xiaomi's top level officials.
On China's microblogging site Weibo, Xiaomi President Lin Bin revealed the first look of the Mi MIX 3 smartphone with a truly bezel-less display and hidden camera, which slides out just like in the Oppo Find X. The teaser also confirms that the Mi MIX 3's release date has been postponed till October, contradicting earlier rumours about September 15 launch.
In a separate post, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun assured fans that he would take upon himself to "speed up" the mass production of Mi MIX 3 and "fight for large-scale" sales at the end of October, GizmoChina reported. This suggests the smartphone won't be available in limited quantities, but at the cost of a delayed October launch, which was also confirmed by Xiaomi's global spokesperson Donovan Sung.
The first look at the Mi MIX 3 also shows the slider work in a slightly different manner than the Find X smartphone. In the Mi MIX 3, the entire back half of the smartphone slides upwards to reveal the camera. This slider mechanism also means the Mi MIX 3 won't have waterproofing certification, instead offer splash resistance as long as the slider isn't opened.
The slider, which appears to be manual instead of motorised function, features two sensors, which either means a dual camera setup or a single selfie camera paired with an IR facial recognition sensor for advanced biometrics like the Mi 8 Explorer Edition.
There is no official word on other features, but rumours have suggested that the Mi MIX 3 could sport a Samsung QHD+ AMOLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, up to 8GB RAM, 256GB storage and a 20MP front-facing camera. As for the pricing, the Mi MIX 3 could start at around Rs 35,000 for the base variant with 6GB+64GB configuration.
Xiaomi could also launch premium variants like the Ceramic Edition with 8GB+256GB configuration for around Rs 55,000. We can expect the smartphone to arrive in China first and slowly make its way to other markets, including India. Stay tuned for updates.
