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Android Xiaomi Mi 8 shamelessly copies iPhone X

Many Android phones have been heavily influenced by the iPhone X since Apple's flagship arrived last year, but the latest from Xiaomi may be the most blatant ripoff yet.

The Chinese manufacturer unveiled its new flagship smartphone, the Mi 8, at a press event in China, with more details released in a company blog post. And, the iPhone X influence is rather obvious.

Yes, there's a notch. Yes, the shape and curves are about the same, and yes, there's a facial-unlock feature much like Face ID. The only clear difference is the size — the screen the Mi 8 is slightly larger at 6.21 inches as opposed to 5.8 for the iPhone X.

The Mi 8 is also the first smartphone to use Qualcomm's Snapdragon 710. Xiaomi has been seen as possibly entering the U.S. smartphone market this year, but there's been no announcement about that.

Copycat notches

A notched smartphone, introduced at MWC in 2018

At the Mobile World Congress back in February, various manufacturers showed up with smartphones that featured the notch with some, such as Asus, even openly admitting that they were copying the feature from the iPhone X. This indicated that notches are the next evolution in smartphone design, soon to see adoption industry-wide.

LG, which placed a notch on its ThinQ phone, has been adamant that it didn't copy the feature from the iPhone.

As for the legal implications, there's been no word yet about Apple trying to pursue patent litigation related to the notch. Apple filed a patent for what would become the notch in November of 2016, which was granted in January 2018. Apple certainly hasn't been shy in the past about suing rivals who it feels have copied aspects of its iPhone designs.

The Essential Phone actually came to the market with the notch before the iPhone X, although that company recently cancelled its next release.