Xiaomi is no stranger to whacky concept smartphones that push the conventional boundaries of design. After having experimented with wraparound displays and pop-up cameras, it is now toying with the idea of dual displays.
Xiaomi creates some of the most interesting concept phones each year to show off its capabilities. The latest one was the Mi Mix Alpha which had a wraparound display that extended on all four sides. These aren’t meant for mainstream smartphones but some elements do trickle down to the Mi Mix series such as full-screen displays and new materials.
Xiaomi filed a patent for a new Smartphone which has Dual display on front & back & it's not a foldable phoneProbably it's the upcoming Mi Mix series phones pic.twitter.com/gXEdKWRuC2July 10, 2020
Xiaomi has filed a patent for a smartphone which has an extremely curved display along with a secondary smaller display on the back. The design is strikingly similar to the Mi Mix Alpha, just less polarizing and more practical. This leads us to believe that it could be an indication of an iteration of the Mi Mix series. The last device in the lineage, the Mi Mix 3 was unveiled back in 2018, making it ripe for a refresh now.
As per the patent sketch, the front of the phone looks identical to the Alpha with a display that stretches from side to side and very slim bezels on the top and bottom. Not only is the front camera nowhere to be seen, but even the power and volume buttons are gone. Things get even more interesting on the back, as the bottom half sports a second display. The top half has a single, large camera but that could quantitatively change in the final product.
Its implementation is likely to be similar to the ZTE Nubia Z20 where the secondary display can be used in tandem with the cameras for better selfies or even using the phone entirely. There could be more interesting use cases implemented via the software such as a presentation mode, ambient display, extra animations etc.
As always, a patent should not be considered as a confirmation of an upcoming device, but more of a hint at what the company is currently exploring. If this phone actually sees the light of day, we expect it to be the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4.
