Xiaomi’s new foldable phone patent reveals a Huawei Mate XS lookalike

Xiaomi’s foldable phone, as seen in the patent filing, looks identical to Huawei’s Mate XS. Here’s what you need to know about the foldable phone.

Xiaomi's foldable phone could be inspired by Huawei's (representative image) (Huawei)

Xiaomi has long been rumoured to be working on a foldable phone. Over the last few months, we have seen different variations of a Xiaomi foldable phone. It appears that Xiaomi has finally settled with one design and surprisingly it looks identical to Huawei's upgraded Mate XS foldable smartphone.

LetsGoDigital has discovered a patent filed by Xiaomi in January this year that reveals sketches of the upcoming foldable phone. The patent shows Xiaomi's foldable phone opens outward. The mechanism is said to be remarkably like how Huawei's original Mate X and the new Mate XS operate. Xiaomi's foldable phone sports a thick panel on the side of the rear. The panel houses multiple sensors, mostly cameras.

There is a hinge at the center, a cut-out on the side to easily unfold/fold the phone, and big slots for power and volume. The power button is likely to double as the fingerprint sensor on this Xiaomi foldable phone. If you look closely at the leaked design, you will notice thicker base which houses speaker grilles and USB port.

How the Xiaomi foldable phone could look like (LetsGoDigital)

How the Xiaomi foldable phone could look like (LetsGoDigital)

Since it's still a patent, we cannot say it's going to be the final design for Xiaomi's foldable phone. Nonetheless, the concept looks quite different from what we have come across the device so far. Just last month, a Xiaomi patent revealed a foldable smartphone with a clamshell design that comes with a rotating camera. The clamshell design has already been experimented by Motorola (Moto Razr) and Samsung (Galaxy Z Flip).

That said, the new patent is also remarkably different from Xiaomi's concept foldable phone which company had previewed last year. A 51-second video revealed a dual-folding phone which essentially means it can open both inward and outward.