Photo paper is really cheap.

On July 19th, Xiaomi held a new product launch event in Beijing, where Lei Jun not only shared his journey in the automotive industry but also introduced several major new products, including Xiaomi MIX Flip, Xiaomi MIX Fold4, Xiaomi Band 9, and Redmi K70 Supreme Edition.

In Lei's anticipation, Xiaomi MIX Flip, as Xiaomi's first small foldable phone, would likely garner high attention. Unexpectedly, it was the accessory that debuted alongside MIX Flip—the MIX Flip Portable Photo Kit—that gained the most popularity, creating a sense of "turning the tables".

Recently, social platforms have been flooded with posts related to Xiaomi's instant cameras. If you're not in the tech circle, you might wonder: When did Xiaomi start making instant cameras?

Source: Xiaohongshu

That's right, after automobiles, Xiaomi has set its sights on the retro instant camera market.

Portable Photo Kit unexpectedly becomes a hit, selling out on e-commerce platforms

Just yesterday, the hashtag #XiaomiPhotoPaper2Yuan trended on Weibo. Upon clicking, Lei discovered that it was about the MIX Flip accessory that he had overlooked. In the trending topic, the newly released MIX Flip Portable Photo Kit received overwhelming praise from female users, with many urging Xiaomi to restock.

The Portable Photo Kit is priced at 499 yuan and includes the Mijia Pocket Photo Printer 1S + interconnecting leather case (with strap) + ZINK photo paper (5 sheets), available in purple and green. The kit utilizes ZINK inkless printing technology, requiring no ribbon or ink cartridge, instead using embedded color dye crystals in the paper that are heated by the print head to produce an image in a single pass.

Source: Xiaomi

When combined with the MIX Flip, simply enabling the Portable Photo Mode allows the image captured by the phone to be quickly printed as a physical photo, instantly preserving the beauty before your eyes.

Notably, in Portable Photo Mode, by switching between the front and rear cameras, users can easily choose from various shooting methods such as touch screen, voice control, gestures, and utilize classic features like fill light filters. Users can also edit the phone's captured image before printing—who wouldn't want a prettier photo?

Source: JD.com

Crucially, the photo paper for the Portable Photo Kit costs just 2 yuan, in stark contrast to the prices of other brands like Fujifilm, where a box of 20 sheets can easily exceed 100 yuan. From this perspective, it's no wonder the Portable Photo Kit is being hailed as the "Xiaomi version of instant cameras," a worthy alternative.

Due to the overwhelming popularity, Lei checked multiple e-commerce platforms and found them all out of stock. On Tmall's photo printer trending list, Mijia Pocket Photo Printer-related products topped the charts. Perhaps even Xiaomi itself didn't expect that the portable printer, a product that has been around for several years, would regain popularity through its combination with a foldable phone.

Source: Taobao

Xiaomi stirs up the market again, leaving manufacturers who rely on photo paper profits stunned

If the Portable Photo Kit could only be used with foldable phones, its impact on the instant camera industry might not be so significant. However, the issue is that the Mijia Pocket Photo Printer 1S in the kit supports standalone use. While it cannot utilize the MIX Flip's exclusive Portable Photo Mode, it can still unlock other features like printing photos when paired with the Mijia App, meaning Xiaomi's cost-effective photo paper is poised to shake up the entire instant camera industry.

According to Fujifilm's previous financial report, its imaging business grew 14.5% in sales and 39.9% in operating profit, thanks to strong sales of INSTAX instant cameras, achieving its sales target of 150 billion yen for fiscal year 2025 a year ahead of schedule. While entry-level instant cameras may only cost a few hundred yuan, the real cost lies in the photo paper.

Source: Fujifilm Group

On social platforms, discussions about the high price of instant camera photo paper never cease. Currently, the basic photo paper from official channels costs over 4 yuan per sheet, with some colored or branded options even exceeding 20 yuan per sheet. For example, Fujifilm's 20-sheet instax mini white-bordered photo paper costs 119 yuan, or nearly 6 yuan per sheet, while Polaroid's 8-sheet colored white-framed photo paper costs 119 yuan, or almost 15 yuan per sheet.

Source: Taobao

Since photo paper is a long-term investment, users who don't want their cameras to gather dust have no choice but to accept the high prices or even pay exorbitant premiums to resellers who hoard photo paper due to shortages.

In this era of consumer downgrading, where one option is 2 yuan per sheet of photo paper and the other is several or even dozens of times more expensive, most consumers will undoubtedly make the choice that benefits them.

Xiaomi reignites interest in instant cameras, but further advancements may be challenging

In fact, instant cameras were almost relegated to history under the onslaught of digital cameras and smartphones. The first instant camera was invented in 1947 and was hailed by Time magazine as one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century.

Over the following decades, the instant camera industry experienced cycles of popularity and decline, particularly from 2004 to 2014, when related products were mostly dormant due to the global popularity of digital cameras and the iPhone. It wasn't until 2018, fueled by nostalgia for retro styles and social media demands, that instant cameras regained popularity, becoming a new favorite among young people in the digital age. Fujifilm, the market leader, attributes this resurgence to "a sudden global revival in popularity".

Xiaomi's unexpected success with its instant camera has led some to believe that the company is redefining the industry. However, Lei believes that while Xiaomi's instant camera may grab headlines in the short term, the inability of the Portable Photo Mode to adapt to other phones will ultimately hinder its further expansion.

Source: Taobao

The appeal of instant cameras among young people stems from their unique aesthetic and the ritual of pressing the shutter button, seeing the flash, and waiting a few minutes for the photo to emerge from the camera. MIX Flip's Portable Photo Kit effectively reproduces this ritual, but on other phones, the scene becomes ordinary photo printing.

There are countless channels for photo printing, and we don't even need to buy a photo printer ourselves, as printing a photo on e-commerce platforms can cost just a few cents. From a cost perspective, this method is a cheaper alternative, rendering Xiaomi's cost-effective photo paper advantage obsolete.

Can the MIX Flip model of accessory-driven phone sales be replicated?

Before addressing the issue of Portable Photo Kit compatibility, Xiaomi's instant camera may not be able to disrupt the original industry players. More importantly, the creative model of MIX Flip + Portable Photo Kit can be replicated, not just by other phone brands creating their own "phone + instant camera" products but also by tapping into the MIX Flip model to explore more phone + accessory combinations that drive phone sales through accessories.

For example, Nothing, known as the "light factory" in the phone world, recently launched its CMF Phone 1, a phone that revolves around accessories. Lei received and reviewed the phone yesterday. The phone allows for interchangeable back covers and can connect to accessories like stands, straps, and card holders. Although the 1,396 yuan CMF Phone 1 has mediocre specs, it sold over 100,000 units within three hours of its launch, demonstrating that many consumers value the playfulness of accessories.

Source: Lei Technology

Similarly, the MIX Flip + Portable Photo Kit hits a specific group's pain point, reviving the concept of portable printers. Since MIX Flip has just been released, Lei cannot yet determine how much the Portable Photo Kit has helped sales, but it's clear that the kit has successfully introduced MIX Flip to people who were not interested in foldable phones, earning Xiaomi significant publicity.

It's foreseeable that more phone manufacturers will follow the MIX Flip model, tightly integrating accessories with phones through customized functions, thereby driving phone sales through accessories. This is essentially the familiar concept of ecosystem interconnectivity, where PCs, smart homes, and cars can be seen as phone accessories that interconnect to provide users with more practical and entertaining features.

Final Thoughts

It's worth mentioning that the MIX Flip Portable Photo Kit is still out of stock, and just now, the last unit at the Xiaomi Store near Lei's home was sold. Those eager to try it out should be patient; the shortage is due to Xiaomi's unexpected popularity, and sufficient stock at original prices is expected soon.

Internet trends change quickly, and Xiaomi's "instant camera" craze may fade at any time. However, the most significant aspect of this event is the inspiration it provides to other phone manufacturers regarding the "phone + accessory" model. In a highly homogenized phone market, unique differentiators are crucial, as they are the most perceptible aspects for users.