Xiaomi has been putting up teasers of the soon to be launched Mi MIX 2S. And for all “notch” haters, there is good news – it seems as if the display of the phone will come minus any incursion for the front-facing camera. Or in simple terms: no notch!
The MIX is credited by many to have triggered the whole “zero bezel” display phenomenon. The first MIX launched in late 2016, featured a near bezel-less display, with even the speaker placed beneath the display. Its successor in 2017 went for a more conventional speaker placing, just above the display but reduced its size to almost a sliver. Neither device, however, featured a ‘notch’ like the Essential phone or the iPhone X, mainly because Xiaomi opted to place the front-facing – selfie – camera at the chin of the phone, in the area below the display. It was certainly an unusual location – and the phone’s UI actually asked users to turn the phone upside down for a more ‘normal’ selfie snap – but it allowed the display to be a continuous, uninterrupted entity.
However, with the iPhone X making the notch desirable rather than despicable, so much so that even Android itself accommodated it in its version, many believed that the company known as the “Chinese Apple” would follow in the footsteps of the “Fruit company” (to quote one of the early Android notch adaptors) with the next edition of the Mix. A number of “leaks” even showed the notch on the top right corner of the display.
However, Xiaomi has now officially released teaser images of the Mi MIX 2S along with its ambassador, Kris Wu. And from what is visible, there is no notch on the display anywhere. In fact, from what we can see, the MIX 2S seems to be rather similar to the MIX 2, with minimal bezels all around and a slightly large ‘chin’, where we suspect we will again find the selfie camera.
Of course, that display might still nurse a fingerprint scanner. But THAT is another story. For those interested in specs, the Mi MIX 2S is expected to feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (835/845), 6 GB/ 8GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. All will, of course, be officially revealed on March 27. But judging by what we have seen, be ready to flip your phone for a selfie, for the Chinese Apple seems to have resisted the temptation of the notch. Will it place the MIX 2S a notch above the competition? Stay tuned to find out more.