The 'Apple of China' just showed us what the iPhone 8 could look like

 

Chinese tech company Xiaomi on Tuesday revealed the Mi Mix smartphone, which could hint at what the next iPhone would look like.

The Mi Mix, which will go on sale in China starting next month, has incredibly thin borders around its large 6.4-inch screen, making it look almost as if the entire front surface is the display.

Indeed, the Mi Mix's design closely matches rumors about Apple's next iPhone, which is also said to have no borders or bezels, making for an "all-display" front surface.

Check out the Xiaomi Mi Mix and how it could show us what the next iPhone will look like:

Apple's next iPhone is said to have no borders or bezels, like the concept below. It makes for a striking design.

ConceptsiPhone/YouTube

But Xiaomi has beaten Apple to the punch with the Mi Mix, which seemingly has no borders or bezels on the sides.

Xiaomi

The sides have the thinnest borders we've seen on any smartphone, and the bottom of the phone is the only place you'll find a noticeable border.

Xiaomi/YouTube

Xiaomi figured out how to work around the problems with having an all-screen front surface, like hiding sensors, cameras, and the earpiece.

Xiaomi/YouTube

It removed them entirely.

For the earpiece, Xiaomi uses a vibrating arm inside the phone that resonates through the Mi Mix's ceramic body.

And instead of using infrared sensors to detect proximity and the brightness of your surroundings, Xiaomi uses ultrasonic ones. Still, it's unclear from Xiaomi's marketing materials how ultrasonic sensors could be used to detect brightness.

And what about the front-facing camera? Xiaomi put it on the bottom of the phone.

Xiaomi/YouTube

There's no telling if Apple will use similar technology or methods for its next iPhone, or if it'll even have a borderless front surface. We'll have to wait until next September to find out.

REUTERS/Stephen Lam

And we have bad news if you're American, as the Mi Mix probably won't be coming to the US.

Xiaomi has never officially sold any smartphones in the US — one reason is because the phones aren't built with the US' 4G LTE networks in mind, as Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra said during Mobile World Congress last year. Xiaomi would have to redesign some of its internal components to support the US market.

But there's more to it than that. Xiaomi is still a small Chinese company — it's not even the top phone-maker in China anymore. So without conquering its home market, selling phones in the US would be an uphill battle, especially since Xiaomi doesn't have any relationships with any of the US carriers, and would have a tough time selling its cheap smartphones in a market that's largely been saturated by Apple and Samsung devices.

Xiaomi will likely keep its focus in China and the general Asia region, including India. There's a chance Xiaomi could attempt to sell phones in the US at some point in the future, but right now, the company will only sell accessories and smaller-scale electronics, like TV set-top devices, here in the states.

Still, it would be great to see the Mi Mix in the West at some point.