When schematics and mockups began to leak earlier this year, it quickly became apparent that the new iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus for 2016 would end up being suspiciously familiar. For the second consecutive year, Apple’s iPhone lineup would reuse a design first introduced in 2014. Bloggers were quick to call the new phones “boring,” though we now know in hindsight that wouldn’t be the case. Still, many fans held onto hope that despite the phones’ reuse of Apple’s iPhone 6 rear housing, there was still a chance that some rumored changes for the phone’s face would end up panning out. Specifically, a handful of reports claimed that Apple would increase the size of the displays on the new iPhones without increasing the dimensions of the devices.
Sadly, those rumors wouldn’t end up panning out and the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus would feature the same 4.7- and 5.5-inch display sizes as their predecessors. Well guess what: The redesigned iPhone 7 we were all hoping for is about to launch, only Apple isn’t the company that will release it.
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Chinese smartphone makers have absolutely no qualms with ripping off Apple’s iPhone design. Well, to be fair, most smartphone makers “borrow” from the iPhone to an extent, but there are a few companies out of China that just completely rip off the phone’s design without thinking twice. One such company is called Vivo, and it’s about to launch its own take on Apple’s iPhone 7 that features the big design change we were all hoping for.
Here’s a leaked photo of the upcoming Vivo X9, which was posted on Weibo and republished by GizChina:
Yup, it’s an iPhone 7. But flip the X9 around to its face and we see something of particular interest:
Just look at those gorgeous bezels. What makes them so gorgeous, you ask? They’re barely there.
Next year’s iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus (and iPhone 8 Plus Plus?) is rumored to feature a bold new design that eliminates the side bezels almost entirely, allowing Apple to maintain the same display sizes while decreasing the phones’ overall footprints. The iPhone 8 will also reportedly ditch the home button and include a Touch ID fingerprint scanner beneath the display, allowing the screen to take up even more of the phone’s face.
If a year is too long for you to wait, though — and if you don’t mind using an iPhone 7 that runs Android — the Vivo X9 might be just what the doctor ordered. Provided you can find one imported from China, of course. If Vivo ever tried to launch this phone in the US, Apple would obviously sue the company into oblivion.
