Xiaomi’s new concept phone features ‘waterfall’ edges all-round

Smartphone display innovations continue to bring us closer to Tony Stark’s lab filled with see-through panels. That faux-augmented reality future is a few millimetres closer with Xiaomi’s new concept smartphone that features a “quad-curved waterfall display.” 

The mockup’s display features a deep 88-degree ‘waterfall’ curvature on all four edges. Remember Huawei’s Mate 30 Pro’s edges? From what we can gather, the concept mockup’s got edge ‘dropoffs’ around the entire body. This can either go over really well with consumers, or they’ll absolutely despise it. 

Xiaomi’s edgier than you

Of course, the main issue here is the fact that there’s absolutely no room around the edges to house physical buttons. According to Xiaomi, the design should “extend the limits of the display to infinity” and enable “a true, port-free unibody design.” While smartphone companies are innovating themselves into a portless corner, consumers are still sour about the loss of the 3.5mm headphone jack in almost all post-2018 flagship devices. 

That said, curved displays haven’t done extremely well in the eyes of users. Samsung’s Note 9 famously featured harsh curves around the edges, making it almost impossible to use the S-Pen stylus on the edges, or successfully tap the outermost keys on the keyboard. A similar thing happened with the Mate 30 Pro. 

Since then, we’ve seen smartphone design lean toward flatter displays, but with minimal bezels along the edges. We’ll see if Xiaomi’s concept actually makes it into production. One thing’s for sure, though — it looks particularly sleek in these renders, and we’d love to see one up close.

Source: The Verge