Xiaomi patent shows a foldable phone similar to the Motorola Razr

Motorola, Samsung, Xiaomi and TCL are all making flip the new foldables

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Motorola’s new Razr has an additional touch screen on the outside, but Xiaomi’s outside display looks considerably smaller. (Picture: National Intellectual Property Administration)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 6:33pm, 15 Nov 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

It looks like foldable phablets like Samsung’s Galaxy Fold are already passé. The new trend is for normal-sized smartphones that fold in half, and Xiaomi is already working on its own.

Just after Motorola unveiled its new Razr that looks like the original flip-phone but with a foldable display inside, a Xiaomi patent was spotted showing off similar tech.

China’s National Intellectual Property Administration website shows it’s granted Xiaomi’s new foldable design patent, which was filed in August. Unlike Motorola’s new Razr, which has a notch and massive chin on the inside display, Xiaomi’s design shows a top bezel for front cameras and no chin at the bottom.

Last month, Samsung also teased a foldable like a flip-phone, but it didn’t mention when it might be released. And it appears TCL also has something similar prepared.

It’s not Xiaomi’s first foldable design. In January, the company teased a foldable prototype on both Twitter and Weibo that shows a peculiar design that includes two folds. But it doesn’t look like Xiaomi’s foldable phones will be released anytime soon.

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