We have seen folded displays and curved displays, but now Xiaomi has unveiled the industry’s first quad-curved waterfall display for smartphones. The global technology leader recently revealed its new concept smartphone kitted with the screen and admittedly it is stunning.
The device features an 88° hyper quad-curved screen design allowing visual interfaces to flow over the phone’s surface like water. This results in the entire frame of the smartphone being covered by essentially a screen.
To say the new concept device pushes the limits of smartphone form is an understatement. In their attempt to make the smartphone as simple as possible, Xiaomi engineers have also produced something insanely cool.
Look Ma, No Ports!
Xiaomi’s new concept smartphone does not have a name yet. It also does not have any ports or buttons. The futuristic unibody features a no-port design, which brings the “just a screen” form factor a step closer to life.
This revolutionary design ensures that almost all sides of the phone are covered by the display. Thanks to 46 self-developed patented technologies, physical ports and buttons can have their functions replicated by more elegant alternatives.
Xiaomi has also leveraged on ground-breaking technologies and engineering solutions for its concept device. This includes utilising ultra-thin piezoelectric ceramics, an industry-first flexible film display acoustic technology, and third-generation under-display cameras.
Features such as wireless charging, eSIM chips, pressure-sensitive touch sensors, and more are also seamlessly integrated together, resulting in a visionary yet intuitive device. That said, the most innovative feature remains the Xiaomi device’s waterfall display.
About That Hyper Quad-Curved Screen
Curved glass displays are not new. We have seen them before on flagship devices from Samsung, OnePlus, and Xiaomi. But this new quad-display from the brand certainly takes curved screens to the next level.
The new 88° hyper quad-curved screen marks a revolution in manufacturing and bonding. According to Xiaomi the biggest challenge was not bending the display, but rather in manufacturing an 88° quad-curved glass panel along with the 3D bonding process.
The 88° quad-curved glass has virtually broken through the technological limits of glass production. Compared with ordinary curved glass, the difficulty of hot bending increases exponentially. Xiaomi claims the display was subjected to hot bending under high temperatures and pressure.
Polishing a piece of such hyper-curved glass with a deep 88° bend on four sides requires self-developed glass processing equipment. Reportedly, the process required more than 10 complex polishing procedures. When it came to attaching a piece of glass to the flexible display, an innovative screen stacking design was used.
Despite the painstaking details that went into the production of this concept smartphone, the efforts seem to be paying off. Although Xiaomi has not said if this concept model will progress beyond the prototype stage, the consumer interest is present.
Back in 2019 the brand revealed its Mi Mix Alpha phone, which featured an innovative wrap around display. Although that device never went on sale, it allowed Xiaomi to showcase its ingenuity and creativity. Will this new concept smartphone with its cool quad-curved waterfall display suffer the same fate? We’re keeping our eyes peeled.