Xiaomi Mi8: the most blatant Apple iPhoneX rip-off yet, and what’s to like about it – first impressions

Chinese phone maker took years to shed its iPhone copycat label, yet it will be back with a vengeance now. If ripping off Apple doesn’t faze you, this handset has a lot going for it, such as an AI beautifying mode for selfies and improved navigation

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The Xiaomi Mi 8 has a beautifying mode that uses AI to give your selfie shot a digital facelift. Photo: Ben Sin

Published: 12:45pm, 1 Jun 2018Updated: 12:56pm, 1 Jun 2018

When Xiaomi first began making smartphones in 2011, it took many design cues – on both hardware and software – from Apple, so much so that the Chinese company was dismissed as an iPhone copycat maker by Western tech sites.

The stigma of this stuck with the company for years (at least in English-language media), even though Xiaomi had developed a nice identity of its own by 2014. It wasn’t until two years later, though, when Xiaomi wowed the industry with its pioneering bezel-less Mi Mix that it finally shed that label.

Spot the difference: the Xiaomi Mi 8 (right) side by side with the Apple iPhone X. Photo: Ben Sin

Old habits die hard, however. On Thursday Xiaomi announced its newest flagship smartphone – the Mi 8 – in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, and it is the most blatant rip-off yet of the iPhone X. That’s saying a lot, considering that in 2018 every Android phone maker bar Samsung has copied the front-display notch the iPhoneX pioneered to house its front-facing camera. Even though they have the same screen cut-out, recent phones from Huawei and LG retained some of their identity and unique design traits. Xiaomi hasn’t even bothered to do that with the Mi 8.

Look familiar? The Xiaomi Mi8 Explorer Edition uses 3D sensors to map a user’s face, allowing it to copy the iPhone X’s animoji feature. Photo: Ben Sin

Whether it’s the camera placement, the size of the notch, or the way the phones are positioned in promotional images, everyone will be doing a double take to make sure they’re not looking at an iPhone X. The top variant of the Mi 8, dubbed the “Explorer Edition”, presumably due to its transparent glass back, even lifted wholesale Apple’s animated emojis (animojis).