Xiaomi Explains the Technology Behind its Crazy Bezel-less Mi Mix Concept Phone

Yesterday, Chinese device maker Xiaomi stunned the world when it unveiled the Mi Mix, a concept smartphone that it will soon be releasing to the market that completely puts every device we have seen this year to shame (sorry Galaxy S7 Edge, iPhone 7 and Pixel).

Part of the reason we can’t get enough of the device which looks like something straight out of a movie or an engineer’s fanciful dream, is the 91.3% screen-to-body ratio which has never before been achieved on a mobile device. How did the Chinese manage to fit in a proximity sensor, a light sensor and an earpiece while still managing to do away with the top bezel?

One answer: a piezoelectric ceramic driver for the earpiece and an ultrasonic proximity sensor help keep things out of the 6.4-inch edgeless display’s way or as Xiaomi’s Global Vice President puts it, “Cantilever piezoelectric ceramic acoustic technology replaces the traditional earpiece speaker, allowing you to listen to calls without the earpiece.”

Now, that’s too much tech talk right there and since I can’t be as good as Xiaomi’s own engineers at explaining this, here’s your proper answer (you’ll have to rely on subtitles though since the narration is in Chinese):

In case the above video doesn’t suffice then these images should come in handy:

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The Mi Mix, which was crafted with the help of famed French designer Phillipe Starck, is set to hit the Chinese market early next month (November 4th) at $517. A special variant of the Xiaomi Mi Mix called the Mi Mix 18k thanks to the 18-karat gold around its fingerprint scanner and camera at the back will also be made available at a price of $590, still cheaper than the heavy hitters from Samsung, Apple, Google and HTC.

Specifications of the device that will arrive with a rare custom 17:9 aspect ratio display (with a 16:9 viewing area) are as follows: