Samsung Z Fold 4 and Xiaomi MIX Fold 2 are two of the early Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 foldable phones launched this year, so of course, many people are curious about which one is better. And it just so happens that our Z Fold 4 has arrived.

So it’s time to directly compare the Z Fold 4 vs the Xiaomi Mix Fold 2.

DESIGN

Everyone has their own favorite designs, so we won’t discuss which phone is better looking. However, the design is still very different from the actual experience. The most obvious difference is the size and screen ratio.

The MIX Fold 2 looks more like a normal phone when folded. In contrast the Z Fold 4 is even smaller and has a narrower screen width. You must have thought I would give the MIX Fold 2 a good rating because it is more like a normal phone and thinner than other foldable models. Of course not! Z Fold 4 is very friendly for one-handed operation because of its smaller and narrower screen. Because the scenario of using the outside screen is basically outdoors, it is more comfortable for daily use, except for typing which may be it’s easy to press the wrong key.

On the other hand, the MIX Fold 2 is thinner, but its frame is not flat, like two steel plates against your palm. With a wider body and a more slippery back panel, the folded experience is really not as good as the Z Fold 4. When unfolded, the MIX Fold 2 turns from two steel plates into one steel plate that sticks to your pinky finger. Almost the same weight of Z Fold 4 but with a thicker body to get a more comfortable experience. Therefore, do not think that being thin is good, sometimes it would be counterproductive.

DISPLAY

I do want to compare their screen quality, but they are both top-of-the-line Samsung screens and I really don’t see any difference. I would recommend you to choose from its screen size and usage. For example, if you prefer a larger screen, choose the MIX Fold 2. If you like to play with one hand, choose Z Fold 4. Or if you don’t like the imperfect front lens of Samsung screen, you can choose MIX Fold 2. But if you need to do online meetings very often, then Z Fold 4 is more suitable for you.

Although the Z Fold has been updated to the fourth generation, the hinge is still something that many people complain about: Why is there still a gap there?

The cheaper MIX Fold 2 doesn’t have this problem, but that doesn’t mean it will have a better hinge than the Z Fold 4. The inability to fix the angle makes it less applicable than the Z Fold 4, for example, it can’t take time-lapse by itself, and it can’t stand on the table by itself. To make these functions possible, the hinge of Z Fold 4 is particularly stiff, which means that it requires a lot of force to unfold.

Let’s put it this way, opening the Z Fold 4 is like opening a rusty door, and with the flat frame, you really have to be careful not to drop your phone when unfolding it. This is where the curved frame of the MIX Fold 2 gets the edge. It has a flexible hinge, so it is very comfortable to open and close. The MIX Fold 2 has a wide and light crease, while the Z Fold 4 is narrow and deep. I don’t think there is a loser in the hinge section. Both of them just focus on different points.

PERFORMANCE, BENCHMARKS & GAMING

Performance has never been a strong point of Samsung phones, but just looking at Benchmark scores, the Z Fold 4 seems to be very powerful, and the result is very similar for MIX Fold 2. But scores don’t tell everything, you still need to actually play a few games to understand its actual performance. But Samsung did surprise us with a completely different game performance and score. Compared to the bright performance of the MIX Fold 2, the Z Fold 4 didn’t perform at all like a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 phone in large 3D games. And we didn’t test it at Sumeru, so if the test environment was tougher, the performance would have been even worse. So if you’re into playing big games like Genshin, the MIX Fold 2 is the better choice. 

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Although Z Fold 4 is not as good as MIX Fold 2 in terms of frame rate, there is one thing that it is better than MIX Fold 2. In Genshin Impact, it is set to Highest Graphics, and the clarity is obviously much higher than MIX Fold 2. So you can choose to play with lower Graphics and the quality is not worse than MIX Fold 2. After our test, the frame rate did improve, but it’s still not as good as MIX Fold 2. Anyway, it’s finally crossing the pass line.

Both PUBG Mobile can only be selected up to HDR Graphics 60 fps mode. Both perform exactly the same and there is not much to say about them.

CAMERAS

The MIX Fold 2 has two Leica modes, and we chose LEICA VIBRANT for comparison. Because the other mode has a very strong filter effect, while LEICA VIBRANT is closer to the colors of a traditional phone.

Both phones have a camera system consisting of a main camera, ultra-wide camera, and telephoto camera. To be honest, in most scenes they perform similarly and it’s hard for me to tell you which one is better. I can only tell you what styles they have in specific scenes. For example, the white balance of the Z Fold 4’s photos leans towards warm colors, while the MIX Fold 2 is cooler. The Z Fold 4’s ultra-wide camera can take brighter photos in extremely low light, but it requires you to hold the phone for 7 seconds. The MIX Fold 2 is not as bright, but it only takes you 3 seconds.

Also, the Z Fold 4 has a 3x optical lens, while it’s a 2x in MIX Fold 2, and the Z Fold 4 has a wider ultra-wide angle camera. So the focal length coverage of Z Fold 4 will be more comprehensive. You can see that even at 5x magnification, the Z Fold 4 is not particularly blurry, but the MIX Fold 2 has turned into an oil painting. A wider lens can also help you take more unique photos, so I personally prefer the Z Fold 4 camera system.

For full-sized camera samples, you can check out this drive link.

Regarding how to make full use of this big screen, Samsung is definitely the better one. This time One UI 4.0 is really friendly to foldable phones, on the other hand, the UI on MIX FOLD is like a half-baked cake. Mix Fold 2’s operation logic is similar to most Xiaomi phones, even the split screen function can not be split into upper and lower parts, only left and right, and you can not change the size. These problems do not exist in the Z Fold 4, and One UI added a similar PC task bar design, Type C port can also support video output, making this foldable phone more like a mini PC. Oh, stylus is also there for Z Fold 4, but not supported by Xiaomi. I think the foldable phone software in Samsung is certainly better than Xiaomi. We should all agree on this point, right?

CHARGING & BATTERY

The MIX Fold 2 supports 67w wired charging, which is much faster than the 25w of the Z Fold 4. It takes 45 minutes and 65 minutes to fully charge both. The Z Fold 4 is not as powerful, but it has wireless charging, so you can always keep it fully charged.

The battery capacity is about the same for both, and the chip is the same, so the battery life should theoretically be about the same, and it shouldn’t affect your choice. By the way, if you buy the Z Fold 4, you will get a 33w charger and a charging cable. But If you buy the MIX Fold 2, you’ll also get a very nice case and a screen film for the outside screen.

Just by looking at the specs, the two phones come very close. But there are some things that you can’t tell who is good and who is bad just by looking at the specs. Through our actual experience and testing, we have listed out their pros and cons to see if you can accept them.

In my opinion, Z Fold 4 is a near-perfect foldable phone, and as long as you can afford it, I recommend it the most among all foldable phones. If you don’t care about the drawbacks of MIX Fold 2, then it is not that bad, it’s just that the rivals are too good this time.

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