When most smartphone makers mention a device’s screen-to-body ratio they’re only talking about the front side. That’s not the case with Xiaomi, at least not when it comes to the new Mi Mix Alpha.
That’s the Mi Mix Alpha at the top of this post. That black stripe you see is all that remains of the rear shell of the phone. And apart from the small caps on the top and bottom the entire rest of the phone is display. According to Xiaomi’s calculations the result is a phone that has a ridiculous 180.6% screen-to-body ratio.
The math is a little skewed, of course. Xiaomi is using the same math that every other manufacturer, but everybody else uses screen-to-body ratio to brag about the front of their phones. The Mi Mix Alpha takes things to mostly uncharted territory.
Sure, Samsung has wrapped displays around edges. ZTE put a full-color display on the back of the Nubia Z18s. Russia’s Yota sticks secondary E-Ink displays on the back of the YotaPhone. But the glowing slab that is the Mi Mix Alpha is as close as anyone has gotten to making an all-screen device.
Naturally, Xiaomi says they had to come a whole new way to assemble the phone. It also required an internal titanium frame.
The wraparound display is the main attraction, but Xiaomi is pretty excited about one other feature as well. The Mi Mix Alpha packs a rear-facing camera that captures 108MP (12032 x 9024 pixels) images. The sensor behind those mind-numbing numbers is the result of a collaboration with Samsung that we learned about earlier this year.
Xiaomi didn’t skimp on the internals, either. The Mi Mix Alpha is powered by a Snapdragon 855+ chip and it’s teamed up with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. They also somehow managed to cram a whopping 4040mAh battery inside which is a good thing considering just how much display there is to light up on the Alpha.
Limited production kicks off in December and Xiaomi has priced the phone at 19,999 Chinese Yuan. That converts to just over $2,800 at today’s exchange rate. In the meantime, here are some other upcoming Android phones to check out.
