2019 has been a really good year for phones, hasn’t it? From Apple’s iPhone 11 to Huawei’s recently-announced Mate 30, tech companies have been pushing the boundaries of photography and videography more than ever in the battle for smartphone supremacy.
When it comes to screen real estate, however, it looks like Xiaomi might have just captured a decisive win with their latest smartphone.
Unveiled at their product event in Beijing yesterday (24th September), the new Mi Mix Alpha boasts an unbelievable screen-to-body ratio of 180%, thanks to the fact that its screen pretty much wraps around the entire phone. It’s kind of like a foldable phone, without the fold.
To put things in perspective, the iPhone 11 Pro, Mate 30 Pro and Galaxy Note 10 have a screen-to-body ratio of 82%, 94% and 91% respectively.
In fact, the that only part of the phone that isn’t screen is a narrow titanium alloy strip that houses its — get this — 108 megapixel camera (there’s also a 12MP telephoto lens and 20MP ultra wide camera, but that’s less impressive in comparison).
Megapixels don’t necessarily mean that a camera is good, but XiaoMi did zoom into a photo 8 times without losing much detail, which is a promising start.
Thanks to its design, the Mi Mix Alpha doesn’t even need a front-facing camera. Because there’s technically a screen at the back of the phone, pointing the camera towards yourself still allows you to see what you’re shooting.
Apart from that, the Mi Mix Alpha’s specs ain’t no slouch, either — the phone is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 855+ processor, 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and 4,050 mAh battery.
While everything about the Mi Mix Alpha screams “concept phone that’ll never see the light of day” (it sounds too good to be true, to be honest), the surprising thing is that Xiaomi is actually planning to sell it in China later this year for 20,000 Yuan, which converts to about 3,875 Singapore dollars.
That’s pricey (you could literally buy a decent computer and phone with that much money, for crying out loud), but considering that Samsung’s $3,088 Galaxy Fold sold out on its first day in Singapore, we wouldn’t be surprised if the same thing happened if this phone ever made its way to our shores.
Feature Image Credit: Xiaomi