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Smartphones
AbacusTech

Xiaomi patents a smartphone design with pop-up wireless earphones

  • Storing wireless earphones in a smartphone could eliminate the need for charging pods
  • The Chinese smartphone maker has become known for patenting odd smartphone designs

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Xiaomi's new patent features earphones with rotatable heads that stow away inside the phone. Image: Xiaomi via WIPO
Masha Borak

Xiaomi is no stranger to bold smartphone designs. The latest idea from the Beijing-based company is to give people earphones that pop out the top of a smartphone when needed, a newly surfaced patent shows.

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For some, the idea might conjure up images of Samsung’s Galaxy Note series of phones. Introduced with the Galaxy Note 3 phablet in 2013, the Note phones hide a stylus that slides out from the bottom.

Xiaomi’s idea for the earphones appears to use two holes on the top of the phone. The earphones use rotatable heads that swivel up to allow them to slide straight down into the phone.

The idea for the phone is laid out in two separate patents – one for the smartphone and one for the earphones. The patents were registered with the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) in January, but they were recently uncovered by Dutch media outlet Letsgodigital.
Pop-up earphones is only the latest off-the-wall idea from Xiaomi in recent years. Last November, Xiaomi unveiled a smartphone with a foldable display and a massive pop-up module with five cameras on it.
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Another foldable phone design the company teased with a prototype in January 2019 has two hinges, allowing the phone to bend in from each side. With a foldable phone design people might be more familiar with now, Xiaomi has also patented a smartphone that resembles a traditional flip phone, similar to Motorola’s new Razr.
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