90 TECH ADVISOR • JANUARY 2020BUYING GUIDE
The previously in-
your-face notch has
been replaced with
a subtle waterdropDesign
For a company once accused of being ‘China’s Apple’
and yet another copycat brand, Xiaomi has come a long
way in design. So much so, we have to ask: why would
any company want its devices to look like iPhones when
they could look like Xiaomi phones?
While Apple remains stuck in monolithic-notch hell,
Xiaomi has followed some of its fellow Android device
makers in getting away from the “Hey, we’re cool, we’re
forward-facing, look at our notch” conversations to
listening to what its pretty impressive fan base actually
wants. And they want screen. Screen, screen and more
screen. Masses of screen. All the screen.
On Mi 9 the previously in-your-face notch has been
replaced with a subtle waterdrop, centred at the top of
the display. It houses only the selfie camera, while the
speaker has been moved to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it
position at the extreme edge where the screen meets
the frame.90 TECH ADVISOR • JANUARY 2020BUYING GUIDE
The previously in-
your-face notch has
been replaced with
a subtle waterdropDesign
For a company once accused of being ‘China’s Apple’
and yet another copycat brand, Xiaomi has come a long
way in design. So much so, we have to ask: why would
any company want its devices to look like iPhones when
they could look like Xiaomi phones?
While Apple remains stuck in monolithic-notch hell,
Xiaomi has followed some of its fellow Android device
makers in getting away from the “Hey, we’re cool, we’re
forward-facing, look at our notch” conversations to
listening to what its pretty impressive fan base actually
wants. And they want screen. Screen, screen and more
screen. Masses of screen. All the screen.
On Mi 9 the previously in-your-face notch has been
replaced with a subtle waterdrop, centred at the top of
the display. It houses only the selfie camera, while the
speakerhasbeenmovedtoa blink-and-you’ll-miss-it
positionattheextremeedgewherethescreen meets
the frame.