Remember last year when numerous Xiaomi Mi2 prototypes appeared showing all sorts of weird and wonderful designs? Well I’m having déjà vu as the same is happening again for the Xiaomi Mi3!

Without doubt the next generation Xiaomi Mi3 is currently in development, in face we could even be seeing the phone earlier than previously thought just so the Beijing based start-up have a large screen phone on the market. But, will the Mi3 look like any of the leaks? I don’t believe it will.

Today’s purported leak for the Xiaomi Mi3 is a rear photo of what appears to be a metal backed Xiaomi phone with MI logo stamped in to the back. The design features tapered edges and an almost iPod Touch 4 look is finished in both polished and brushed areas which just seem a little un-Xiaomi like to us!

As with the leaked rear case we posted yesterday, specification details are a little thin on the ground, but we do know that this design is meant to be from a 5.5-inch Xiaomi phone/phablet!

We’re not sure Xiaomi would just from the current 4.3-inch design of the Mi2 to a Galaxy Note 2 rivalling 5.5-inch display for the Mi3, plus the brushed back seems far too fussy for a company which ships it’s phones in plain recycled boxes, but it’s an interesting concept nevertheless!