Xiaomi has been working on a foldable phone almost identical to Huawei’s Mate X. PHOTO

Huawei was the only major company in the smartphone market that seems to have had the guts to offer foldable phones with the screen on the outside with the Mate X range, as opposed to the “fold” format with the screen on the inside. However, it seems that one of its main competitors did consider this format, but it was for one reason or another. We now have the first images of a Xiaomi device, which looks very similar to the Huawei Mate X.

Foldable screen design on the outside has also been considered by Xiaomi

Kuba Wojciechowski, a leaker already well known on the internet, has published a series of images of a foldable device that looks very much like a Huawei Mate X, Xs or Xs 2. The only major difference, however, is that this device has Xiaomi’s MI logo emblazoned on the components, suggesting that it is not a Huawei model.

Still, the two phones look almost identical. We’re dealing with a foldable device with a screen on the outside, which also folds 1/3 on the back and 2/3 on the front. Much of the electronics are integrated into a thicker strip that also houses the cameras, and because the phone appears to be in an advanced state of disassembly, we can see the two batteries as well as other components.

Most likely, however, the device is not functional, as we can see that the screen appears to be cracked, dents that probably appeared as a result of disassembly.

It looks like this model dates back to 2019, with a Snapdragon 855 processor and X50 5G modem inside. So Xiaomi could have been one of the first companies to launch foldables on the market, but for one reason or another, that never happened.

This design could be made by another company

The reason why the design is so similar to the Mate X could be an interesting one though. As with foldable laptops, Huawei or Xiaomi may not have been responsible for this design. Thus, this device could be made by BOE, the display manufacturer, as an example, and each company can then tailor this design to their needs. Xiaomi’s prototype has four cameras, but Huawei’s models integrate only three, for example.

This is a prototype of the Xiaomi outward folding phone that was patented but never actually shipped (or even leaked in real life). More details and photos below 🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/wMgCdCnUx2

– Kuba Wojciechowski⚡ (@Za_Raczke) November 17, 2022

In the case of the recently released foldable laptops from ASUS and Lenovo, the hardware design is done by Intel, with the two companies only adding changes to the case and software.

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