Forget the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 – this Xiaomi could be the foldable phone king

The new year is only just underway, but that hasn't stopped Android phone manufacturers from unveiling their new models. This year looks set to be one of the best yet, after a standout 2023 which brought a wealth of top models to market.

In case you had a really good sleep last night, the Samsung Galaxy S24 range was unveiled, marking the first major release of the year. The OnePlus 12 is also expected next week, with other brands certain to follow suit.

One of those could be Xiaomi – and we may now know what that looks like. As reported by MySmartPrice, the brand have certified a device called the Xiaomi Mix Flip. It doesn't take Sherlock to infer that device is probably a clamshell foldable phone.

That's a big deal in itself. The brand has produced a handful of foldable devices so far, but those have only been book-style handsets. As someone who much prefers the dimensions of a flip phone, seeing more brands get in on the act is fantastic.

While this database doesn't give us any details about specs, there are some rumours floating around. It's worth mentioning that these are almost entirely speculative, but it could give us something to measure the device by.

For starters, it's rumoured to feature a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. That is a generation old chipset, which could suggest a really attractive price point for this handset. For comparison, when the Nothing Phone (2) launched with a generation old chip, it cost just £579. I'd certainly be hoping for a sub-£750 price tag on this device.

And let's be clear – that's still not a bad chip. The 8 Gen 2 was an absolutely fantastic chipset, which showed off the power available on a 4nm processor.

Elsewhere, the device is rumoured to pack in a triple rear-camera array. That would be a big deal, particularly as the third sensor is said to be a telephoto lens. Only the Oppo Find N3 Flip has featured that kind of set up so far – and that one wasn't available in the UK.

For now, then, we'll just have to wait patiently for more details.