Xiaomi may be planning to return to one of its most unconventional design choices. A recent information leak from the well-known blogger Digital Chat Station hints at a new flagship device that could bring back a full-size rear secondary display.
The blogger didn’t name Xiaomi directly, but the clues were pretty obvious. The post mentions a flagship based on Qualcomm SM8850 or Snapdragon 8 Elite 2, as well as a design language that includes a “horizontal full-size DECO sub-screen with a large matrix”.
The phone is also reportedly equipped with a periscopic telephoto camera with a vertical arrangement of holes on the back. Later in the comments, the leaker clarified that this is not a foldable device, but a “widescreen” model.
New Xiaomi 16 Pro Max?
According to several Chinese media outlets, the device in question is Xiaomi 16 Pro Max. It will apparently replace the Xiaomi 15 Pro, while the Xiaomi 16 and Xiaomi 16 Pro are said to be compact models in the lineup.
These are just rumors for now. And regardless of the name, the phone’s standout feature will undoubtedly be the return of the rear sub-screen. In 2021, the Xiaomi 11 Ultra came with a tiny 1.1-inch AMOLED screen on the back.
The panel offered quick previews of notifications, always-on display functions, and even acted as a selfie monitor. CEO Lei Jun also acknowledged that the challenge of integrating the display was not cost, but finding a place inside the case without compromising battery life or component layout.
In terms of performance, the phone is expected to be equipped with a Qualcomm SM8850 chip manufactured on TSMC’s 3nm process technology with a processor core of its own design.
According to the report, the chip scores over 4000 points in single-core and over 11000 points in multi-core Geekbench 6 tests. It is backed by 16 MB of GMEM and an Adreno 840 GPU for flagship-level graphics. Memory setup is likely to include LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.1 storage, possibly starting with a 12GB + 256GB configuration.
