After teasing for more than a month, Xiaomi, at an event in Shanghai today announced its first flagship smartphone in 2018, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S. The Mix 2S is a successor to last year's Mi Mix 2, and it retains the design of its predecessor. The Ceramic body, bottom-placed selfie camera and the stunning 18:9 display to the front remains the same. However, what's upgraded is the internals and camera setup. Xiaomi is betting big on the camera features of the Mix 2S, of course, they will because they seem to have worked so hard on implementing some Artificial Intelligence features.
Firstly, the highlight of the Mix 2S is the dual camera setup to the back. The phone has two 12MP sensors to the back- a primary RGB one and a secondary telephoto lens. The dual camera setup comes with a 1/2.6-inch sensor aligned with a wide-angle 26mm equivalent lens that boasts an optical image stabilisation (OIS) system. The second camera has a smaller 1/3.4-inch 12MP sensor combined with an equivalent 46mm telephoto lens. The primary lens offers OIS (Optical Image Stabilisation) support, while the telephoto lens lacks OIS support.
The device also comes with dual PDAF support for locking focus instantly. The Mix 2S achieved a score of 101 in DxOMark's Photo test and an overall score of 97. Well, that's the score close to what Google Pixel 2 achieved. The Mix 2S is powered by the flagship Snapdragon 845 SoC and works in tandem with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage.
The smartphone flaunts a 6-inch AMOLED display with the same 18:9 aspect ratio and Xiaomi is calling the display as Full Screen 2.0. Another highlight of the Mix 2S is the software. The device boots Android 8.0 Oreo out of the box based on MIUI 9, but Xiaomi is betting big on the Artificial Intelligence features. In fact, Xiaomi says that the AI features deliver three times faster performance in the Mix 2S. Also, Xiaomi confirmed that it's working closely with Google and the Mix 2S adopts AR Core technology to enable incredible AR experience on the smartphone.
The Mix 2S supports wireless charging and Xiaomi has used Qi wireless charging technology. Xiaomi also a wireless charger priced at just 99 RMB. Like the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2, the Mix 2S also comes with several global LTE bands.
Coming to the pricing, the Mi Mix 2S is priced at 3299 Yuan (approx Rs 33,800) for the 6GB RAM and 64GB storage model. The 6GB RAM and 128GB storage model costs 3599 Yuan (approx. Rs 37,000), and lastly, the premium 8GB RAM and 256GB storage model costs 3999 Yuan (approx. Rs 41.150). The premium model also ships with a free wireless charger. The phone might land in India next month, but there's no confirmation from Xiaomi India yet.
