Xiaomi’s latest foldable is durable enough to survive half a million folds

Xiaomi has announced a new foldable for Chinese users to consider buying — and for the rest of the world to stare at wistfully from afar. The Mix Fold 3 is going on sale this week starting on August 16th, and based on Xiaomi’s approach with its Mi Mix Fold and Mix Fold 2, we won’t be holding our collective breath for an international release.

The Mix Fold 3’s most eye-catching spec is perhaps the number of folding cycles it’s rated to withstand, which stands at 500,000, according to a certification from TÜV Rheinland. That’s 100,000 higher than the 400,000 of Honor’s recently announced Magic V2 foldable and over double the 200,000 promised by Samsung and Google with their 2023 devices.

Of course, the number of folding cycles a foldable survives in a laboratory setting is far from the be-all and end-all when it comes to durability. Notably, Xiaomi’s announcement didn’t contain any mention of an IP rating for water resistance, which could impact its durability if you use it in the rain. (Both Samsung’s and Google’s recent foldables are protected against limited submersion in water.) It does have a layer of ultrathin glass in its internal display, however, and there’s Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on its outer display.

Also eye-catching are the four cameras on the rear of the phone, which include a 50-megapixel main, a 12-megapixel ultrawide with a field of view of 120 degrees, a 10-megapixel telephoto with the equivalent of a 75mm focal length, and a 10-megapixel periscope camera with a five times optical zoom. The cameras are Leica branded, and Xiaomi’s marketing materials specifically say the company has tried to avoid tuning them to produce “overly sharpened” or “over-processed” photographs.

The Mix Fold 3 isn’t quite as thin or light as Honor’s recently announced Magic V2 (whose thinnest model measures just 9.9mm thick when folded and weighs 231 grams), but it trades blows with Samsung’s brand-new Galaxy Z Fold 5. Xiaomi’s latest foldable is 10.86mm when folded (making it thinner than Samsung’s 13.4mm Fold 5) but is slightly heavier at 255 grams versus 253 grams. The Mix Fold 3’s internal display is a little over eight inches corner to corner with a resolution of 2160 x 1916 and a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz. Its 1080p cover display is 6.56 inches in size.

Other specs include a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and a 4,800mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging for a full charge in 40 minutes. Wireless charging support is also included, and here, the maximum fast-charging speed is 50W. 

The Mix Fold 3 starts at ¥8,999 (around $1,240) for 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, rising to a maximum of ¥10,999 (around $1,515) for 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.