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Did Xiaomi make a transparent iPhone knock-off that isn’t actually transparent?

Updated Jun 1st, 2018 12:26PM EDT
Xiaomi Mi 8 Transparent
Image: Xiaomi

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Xiaomi on Thursday unveiled the world’s best Android-based iPhone X clone. The Mi 8 Explorer Edition is the most expensive version of the Mi 8 family, and the only Android phone in the world to have a notch exactly like the iPhone X, complete with cameras that do 3D facial recognition.

The phone has other unique features, including an in-display fingerprint sensor that also happens to be pressure sensitive, a dual-band GPS system, and a transparent glass rear panel that’s supposed to show the phone’s internal components. The latter is just a marketing trick, albeit a hot one if you ask me. But it turns out it may all be fake.

As spotted by Twitter user Chengming Alpert, the glass back of the Mi 8 Explorer Edition might show a sticker instead of the actual components.

https://twitter.com/ChengmingAlpert/status/1002145711117479937

One argument is that the Snapdragon 845 processor can’t be in that position.

Xiaomi, meanwhile, maintains that the transparent back on the Mi 8 Explorer Edition does show the actual components — here’s what the company told The Verge.

“The transparent back on Mi 8 Explorer Edition is indeed made of transparent glass, and there isn’t a sticker with a picture on it. The parts that you see on the back upper half, for example, are parts of the actual mainboard.”

We’ll probably have to wait for the Mi 8 Explorer Edition’s real-world release to see whether Xiaomi is telling the truth or not.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.