It is almost a given that when Apple does something, at least some Android manufacturers will follow suit and try to imitate it. We just didn’t expect it to happen so fast. Just two weeks after the iPhone 14 Pro debuted, we already have Android phones mimicking its look.
Xiaomi has started its Civi 2 smartphone, the follow-up to the original Xiaomi Civi and Civi 1s, on the Chinese site Sina Weibo. But its most notable design feature is the inclusion of a pill-shaped front-facing camera cutout, like the one found on the iPhone 14 Pro with its Dynamic Island, rather than the circle-shaped cutout of its two predecessors. The cutout itself doesn’t have any fancy face-scanning hardware, instead it’s just two cameras: a 32MP main sensor and a 32MP ultrawide.
Of course, it’s worth mentioning that Samsung tested the pill’s front-facing camera design with the Galaxy S10+ long before everyone else, back in 2019. But back then, it wasn’t placed in the center, but rather in the corner of the camera. the screen. Here, it is centered. The timing is also suspicious, given that this phone will be introduced just a few weeks after the iPhone 14 Pro. And, of course, Xiaomi has a reputation for copying Apple whenever he can.
Other features confirmed for the phone include an IMX766 rear camera sensor with a resolution of 50MP, as well as support for Dolby Atmos. Also, the phone is likely to come with a Snapdragon 7 Gen 1. We have no idea if this phone will come with similar software features as Dynamic Island, but Xiaomi China president Lu Weibing asked people on the platform. on Chinese social media Weibo if they “really need a Smart Island” on their phones.
This phone won’t go on sale in the US, but it could start a trend of Android phones with wider, pill-shaped screen cutouts, something some might consider a design regression from what phones currently have. Android.
Source: GSMArena, Android Police