New Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 leaks show off high-end specs and a promo poster

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3
The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3. (Image credit: Future)

We're starting to see some momentum building when it comes to leaks and rumors around the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 – a high-end phone that is making its official debut in China on August 10.

If you want some more information in advance of that launch, the eagle-eyed team at MySmartPrice has seen benchmarks for the handset pop up on Geekbench. It looks as though we're in for a handset running the Snapdragon 888 Plus processor alongside 12GB of RAM. Android 11 is on board, with MIUI 12.5 on top.

That's not all though, because a promo poster for the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 has also appeared online, showing off the front and back of the phone. You can see a rather large rear camera module, which is rumored to be carrying a 108MP main sensor.

A long time coming

This is a phone that's been a long time coming – the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 arrived in 2018, and we had been under the impression that Xiaomi had decided to abandon the Mi Mix line completely as other devices seemed to take priority.

The series is typically used to showcase new technologies before they make their way to Xiaomi's top-tier flagship phones, and this time around we're expecting the Mi Mix 4 to come sporting an under-display camera.

We've already seen leaked renders of what the phone might look like when it turns up, and the device might also score highly in the charging speed department as well, if the rumors are to be believed. We'll know for sure in a couple of days' time.

Analysis: the under-display cameras are coming

Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 close-up on camera

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 had a sliding camera system. (Image credit: Future)

Cameras with under-display cameras are already on the market, but there's a general consensus that the photos and videos that they capture just aren't that good. That could be about to change with the new batch of handsets arriving in 2021.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 is likely to be one of them, but it won't be the only one. The rumors are that the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will be the first Samsung handset to show up with an under-display camera, while Oppo has also announced it's working on the technology for its own lineup of phones.

There are two issues that phone manufacturers need to deal with: making sure that the selfie camera isn't visible underneath the screen, and then getting the quality of the end results from the camera up to standard (bearing in mind that most people will use their phone's rear camera if they want to take a really top-quality shot).

It looks as though the under-display cameras that appear on smartphones in the second half of 2021 are going to be much improved in both these areas – and this technology could start becoming the norm as we go into 2022.

Via GSMArena

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.