The much anticipated ‘bezelless’ phone from Xiaomi, Mi Mix 2, has been launched in India at a price of Rs 35,999 for the 128 GB version.
The phone is, without doubt, the most affordable bezelless device in India.
In comparison, the Samsung Galaxy S8 — which has thin bezels on the top and the bottom — costs Rs 57,900, while the iPhone X is likely to be priced around Rs 90,000.
However, the real competition of the device will be with the current king of the affordable premium market — OnePlus 5, priced at Rs 32,999 for the 64 GB version and 37,999 for the 128 GB version.
Most of the internal specifications of the two devices are the same — Snapdragon 835 chipset, 3.3 Ah battery, 6 GB of RAM etc..
However, there are two points of difference — camera and display.
First, the camera, and the OnePlus 5 is a clear winner here.
The Mi Mix 2 comes with a 12 MP rear shooter, and a 5 MP front camera. The back sensor is Sony IMX386 and the front unit is powered by 5MP Omnivision OV5675.
The OnePlus 5, on the other hand has 16 MP sensors on both sides, and also comes with Sony IMX sensors — the 371 on the front and the 398 on the back, and are clearly superior to what’s on offer from the Mi device.
The primary camera on the OP5 is also 8% bigger, which means it can capture that much more light.
The second point of difference is the display, and here, there’s no clear winner, but the verdict depends on individual preference based on whether you want an AMOLED display or a traditional LCD display on a more stylish-looking phone.
The OnePlus 5 comes with a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen with traditional 16:9 aspect ratio, while the Mi Mix 2 offers a 18:9 display powered by an LCD panel.
AMOLED, besides being more power efficient, also produces more vivid colors.
However, thanks to the bezeless display — at least on three sides — the Mi device has 81% of its body covered by the screen, while the OnePlus 5 has only 73.3% of the body covered by the display. [polldaddy poll=9848523]
Finally, despite being of the same size to hold, the Xiaomi phone’s display is 6% bigger than the display on OnePlus 5 due to the 2:1 aspect ratio.
It offers a 403 dots per inch resolution compared to the 401 resolution on OnePlus 5. At 2.33 mln, the Mi model also has 12.5% more ‘dots’ or pixels on the display.
The Mi Mix 2 looks better from a form-factor point of view too, due to the bezelless look.
The Mi phone will be available at offline stores from the first week of November, while it will be available on Flipkart and Mi.com from the 17th of this month.
There will also be a 0% interest EMI offer on all the platforms, Xiaomi said.