88 ANDROID ADVISOR • ISSUE 67BUYING GUIDE
Design
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.The previously in-
your-face notch has
been replaced with a
subtle waterdrop