Xiaomi teases new phone with a screen

Some barriers are made to be broken. Some should not be broken, especially if they constitute a mathematical impossibility.

And yet, Xiaomi has a Sept. 24 event coming up, and one (out of at least two) smartphones that the company is launching might have a screen-to-body ratio of over 100%.

The details on the device, called the Mi Mix Alpha, are slim, but judging from one of the teasers the company posted on Twitter and Weibo (via Android Central), the phone's display is going to curve over its sides, possibly giving it a total surface area that's bigger than the phone's front face. It's also possible, but less likely given the official renderings, that it will be a folding phone.

This comes just days ago after Vivo announced the Nex 3, a smartphone with an alleged 99.6% screen-to-body ratio. That phone also has curvy edges, and Vivo's calculation is likely similar. Huawei's Mate 30 Pro, announced yesterday, has similarly curvy sides.

So maybe it's time to ask ourselves the question: Can a smartphone have a screen-to-body ratio that's more than 100%?

Well, it depends how you calculate it. Personally, I'd say no: The screen-to-body ratio doesn't (well, shouldn't) really apply to the parts of the screen that aren't on its front side. A screen-to-body ratio of 100% should mean that the entire face of the phone is the screen, with bezels on all sides being zero.

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The screen-to-body ratio figure started being a popular marketing tool after phones with tiny bezels and notches became popular. The smaller the notch, the tinier the bezels, the bigger the screen-to-body ratio.

And yes, we are getting close to having phones that are literally just screen on the front. But if we compare the entire surface of the screen with just the phone's face, well, let's just say that Samsung's Galaxy Fold would already have something like a 170% screen-to-body ratio.

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In any case, Sept. 24 is bound to be an interesting event. Besides the mysterious Mi Mix Alpha, the company also plans to launch a new flagship, the Mi 9 Pro. The company's teasers also mention a Mi Mix 5G, but that may be the same device as the Mi Mix Alpha -- from the company's teasers, it appears that both the 9 Pro and the new Mi Mix will have 5G connectivity.