In the second quarter of this year, just behind Samsung and Huawei, Xiaomi wants to introduce its own foldable smartphone, possibly under the name Mi Fold or Mi Flex or Mi Dual Flex. And also in this prestige project set the Chinese in contrast to the industry leaders on competitive prices.
Although Xiaomi is not among the first, certainly the cheapest. This does not only apply to traditional flagships such as the Mi 9, which is currently available in Europe from as little as 449 euros – even with the technological experiments, it seems that you want to be a price-breaker right from the start. That Xiaomi works on his own interpretation of a folding cell phone, we have seen several times now, the Xiaomi boss himself was filmed with a double-foldable prototype (see also below), there was also an official statement.
Wed Fold / Mi Flex in the 2nd quarter
In contrast to Samsung and Huawei, who want to open up new price dimensions with their first foldables and thus take themselves out of the game for the masses, until there are cheaper successor models, Xiaomi apparently wants to present a folding cell phone for all and already in the second quarter, ie between April and June of this year. In order not to raise false hopes: The Mi Fold or Mi (Dual) Flex, as the Falt phone may be called, will not be super cheap either.
Only half of a Galaxy Fold
But with an apparently planned retail price of 999 euros or the same high US dollar price undercutting Samsung’s Galaxy Fold by half, the Huawei Mate X is even more prohibitive with 2,300 euros. The almost 1,000 euros for the foldable Xiaomi-Phone would be at least in the range of what currently cost regular flagships of Samsung and Apple. The information is currently coming from an Indian website, which in turn cites investors in Xiaomi’s supply chain as a source – officially confirmed are neither launch price nor period.
Flex display comes from Visionox
However, the source provides further information on how this comparatively cheap price should be possible. For example, Xiaomi does not rely on Samsung’s preferred flexible displays from its own production or, in the case of Huawei, on the factories of BOE, but on OLED panels from the smaller China manufacturer, Visionox Technology, which relied on Xiaomi’s cash flow for development. How good the final result is, so it is questionable, even if Xiaomi with a starting price below 1,000 euros in any case for any amount of vortex care.
