Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 slider

The Mi Mix 3 is turning out to be one of the most interesting devices of the year. Xiaomi has teased earlier in the year that it was adopting a sliding design to hide the cameras when not in use, and the phone will be the first in the world to sport 10GB of RAM.

Here's everything we know so far about the Mi Mix.

October 19, 2018 — Xiaomi shows off the sliding design on the Mi Mix 3

Ahead of the Mix 3 launch, Xiaomi is showing off how the sliding mechanism works on the device. The screen slides down to reveal the dual front cameras, with XIaomi highlighting a few potential use cases in the teaser video.

October 17, 2018 — Mi Mix 3 confirmed with 10GB of RAM

It's official: the Mi Mix 3 will be the first phone in the world to feature 10GB of RAM. Xiaomi's director of product management Donovan Sung served up the information on Twitter, where he previously shared that the device would also sport 5G connectivity.

October 16, 2018 — Mi Mix 3 will be unveiled on October 25

Xiaomi is rolling out media invites for the Mi Mix 3 event, which will take place on October 25. Unlike the first two generations, it looks like the Mi Mix 3 will sport a unique sliding design to hide the front camera assembly.

August 30, 2018 — Xiaomi teases the sliding design of the Mi Mix 3

When Xiaomi unveiled the Mi Mix 2 last year, it mentioned that it experimented with different designs for hiding the front camera before settling on the current implementation — positioning it in the bottom bar. One of those designs included a notch much like the Essential Phone, and at the time Xiaomi said it would try something different this year.

We now have a better idea of that will look like thanks to a render posted by Xiaomi president Lin Bin on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo. According to the render, the upcoming Mi Mix 3 will sport a camera slider that's similar to what we've seen on the Find X, with the front camera housing tucked behind the slider.

That said, there are a few key differences. Based on the render, it looks like Xiaomi is integrating the camera module into the chassis itself, with the display sliding down to reveal the camera array. It also looks like we'll see a similar IR-based face unlock system like the Mi 8 and the POCO F1.

Bin's post came on the heels of the Honor Magic 2 announcement, with Honor's upcoming phone also offering a mechanical slider that hides the camera sensors. The Mi Mix 2 debuted last September, but the Mix 3 is slated for an unveil in the month of October.

When is the Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 launching?

The Mi Mix 3 will be unveiled in China on October 25, and will likely make its global debut before the end of the year.

Will it have global LTE bands?

If the Mi Miix 2 was any indication, Xiaomi will offer a variant of the Mix 3 with global LTE bands. It's another question entirely whether the device will be available in most Western markets, but with Xiaomi now having an official presence in the UK, it's likely the device will be officially sold in the country.

What are the specs?

Xiaomi is set to offer the Mi Mix 3 with 10GB of RAM and 5G connectivity. It will also have a face unlock feature and dual 24MP cameras up front. Details are liight on the rest of the hardware, but with the launch slated for the last week of October, we should know more about the device shortly.