Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S vs Xiaomi Mi Mix 2: behold Xiaomi's most powerful smartphone!

Today, we take a look at the newly arrived Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S and compare it with the already familiar (and bestselling) Xiaomi Mi Mix 2. What's new, what's better and what's more expensive? Let's find out!

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S vs. Xiaomi Mi Mix 2: what's new?

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is a mid-cycle refresh of the Mi Mix 2. So, generally, one would not expect any ground breaking upgrades and improvements. However, things seem to be quite different with the Mi Mix 2S. The phone features a number of major changes in the camera, hardware, charging and even software. These include:

● Dual rear cameras

● Snapdragon 845 (compared to Snapdragon 835 on the Mi Mix 2)

● Wireless charging

● AI learning software

● New MIUI 9.5 operating system

Changes in design

The two phones are almost identical when it comes to design. You get the same ceramic build, the same "bezel-less" design with the infamous "chin" and the same 5.99 inch LCD screen featuring 18:9 aspect ratio and 1080p resolution.

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But turn the two phones over and one big difference becomes apparent — the new model comes with vertically oriented dual rear cameras which look like the design of iPhone X. You will also see a fingerprint sensor — but that's not new and it's in the same position as with the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2.

The great improvement on camera

The main and most talked about upgrade on the new phone model is the camera.

As the excellent camera performance - 101 photo benchmark on DXOMARK MOBILE, the newly released Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is also called 100 marks camera smartphone.  

Dual rear cameras with two 12-megapixel sensors

As we've already mentioned a few times, the new Mi Mix 2S comes with a dual camera system while the original Mi Mix 2 only has one camera. The dual cam setup includes  two 12-megapixel sensors - one telephoto and one standard. It's actually almost the same arrangement as with the dual lens Xiaomi Mi 6 — but the Mi Mix 2S's camera sports a newer sensor:  Sony IMX 363 with 1.4μm pixels size.

Advanced AI smart shooting features

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S  camera comes with smart learning AI that lets it tell the difference between different face shapes and better distinguish the object and the background. This results in a more beautiful bokeh for portrait shoots, and the beauty mode on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S promises to be something quite special.

Substantial upgrade on processor and storage

The next substantial change is processor upgrade: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2's Snapdragon 835 has been upgraded to Snapdragon 845 and you get 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB ROM. This is rather an impressive combo for an Android phone and the Mi Mix 2S has scored a surprising 8,000+ on PC Mark's testing system, and 277,178 on Antutu benchmark. 

Efficient wireless charging

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is also added with the efficient wireless charging which supports the widely-used Qi standard. And the Xiaomi brand wireless charger is also a highlight on the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S' launch event , as it is just priced at CNY 99 (roughly $16 ). That's much cheaper than Apple's wireless charger.

The latest MIUI 9.5 OS 

Together with the Mi Mix 2S, Xiaomi has rolled out its new MIUI 9.5 based on Android 8.0 Oreo. As a number of reviews have already mentioned, the new software is polished, comes with no glitches or bloating.

Smooth UI experience

The new UI of Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S comes with a set of new features as well: you will get to try out gesture control (similar to what you have on the iPhone X) and there is a new multitasking pane. There are three gesture controls available: swipe up from the bottom of the screen to go to the home screen, swipe up from the bottom and hold to bring up the multitasking pane and swipe right or left from either side to go back.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S price

The presale price of Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S (6GB RAM + 64GB ROM) on our GearBest is $659.99. And there are also another two storage options:6GB+ 128GB, 8GB+256GB. Obviously, the price of excellent Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S is much lower than that of most flagship models on the market, like Apple iPhone X, Samsung Galaxy S9.

Bottom line

To keep things very short, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S may will be the fastest and most powerful Xiaomi smartphone to date. The phone comes with significant improvements where they matter the most. Boasting one of the most powerful cameras and hardware specs as well as reasonable price on the market, the Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S rightfully positions itself as a strong competitor to some of today's most popular flagships.