Xiaomi Mi5S leaked photo shows a legal battle waiting to happen


xiaomi mi5s

Following up from rumours that the Xiaomi Mi5s will not have a physical home button, a new spy photo has been released showing an alternate design and possible legal issues to Xiaomi.

Cast your minds back a few years and you may remember that Meizu was in a spot of bother with the design of their Halo home ring on the chin of their then phones. Meizu had been using the Halo for a few years, but ZTE’s Nubia brand wasn’t to happy about it as they had been using the same design too.

Nubia came out on top in that battle which lead to Meizu moving back to physical home buttons.

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So with that in mind it is safe to assume that the halo or ring design for a home navigation key is off bounds right? Well has nobody bothered to tell the designers at Xiaomi?

Above is a purported spy photo of the Xiaomi Mi5S which features a similar ring on the chin of the phone, where it is highly likely an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner will be embedded.

Xiaomi are quite a smart bunch so we assume that this is just an internal version of the phone (or a fake) and that the final production model will have another icon in its place.

The Xiaomi Mi5S is set to launch later this year with Snapdragon 821 chipset, 5.15-inch display, and 16 mega-pixel rear camera.

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27 Comments

  1. balcobomber25
    September 16, 2016

    Theres two possible scenarios:

    1. It’s a fake.
    2. Xiaomi worked out a deal with ZTE to use that patent.

    Given Xiaomi’s stubbornness to work with patent holders, especially Ericsson, I am 99% confident in saying it is option 1.

    • Muhammad Yasir
      September 16, 2016

      lel

    • MattD
      September 16, 2016

      Logical logic is logical ?

      After what happened to them with ericsson, and the legal issues meizu had with zte, I highly doubt they’re willing to do something that could cause troubles in a moment when all they need is to sell!

      • balcobomber25
        September 16, 2016

        Hugo Barra wouldn’t allow them too, Chinese patent law can be very shaky and/or non existent except when it involves two Chinese companies. ZTE would have the lawsuit filed before this thing even launches.

        • MattD
          September 16, 2016

          Yeah, Hugo comes from a world where apple could sue you for the air you’re breathing, he should be super careful about patents ?

  2. UrkanGurkan
    September 16, 2016

    But then again, there are several smaller manufacturers that use the ring button, most recently Umi.

  3. Muhammad Yasir
    September 16, 2016

    fuck nubia … their phones are way too expensive !

    • Clement
      September 16, 2016

      Teach your tongue, please.

      • Muhammad Yasir
        September 16, 2016

        don’t think i said anything wrong there

        • Yeti hand
          September 16, 2016

          I agree

        • Kula
          September 16, 2016

          Have you actually seen the prices of the Nubia Z11 borderless 64gb? 2499 Chinese RenMinBi.. Dirt Cheap. They changed their price strategy after the Z9 series, which definitely works for me. 🙂

          • AtereJr
            September 16, 2016

            Bought a Nubia Z11 max (4g + 64g combo with SD652) and I have to say they did really well with their pricing ($300). The phone is simply awesome with a 6 inch display that at times feels and looks like a 5.5 with an ultra slim (7.5mm) frame and bezel.
            The moment I was able to flash in GAPPS made me realised it was the best SD652 powered device in the market. Finally, the most amazing part (wasn’t camera) the battery life really wowed me. On a normal/heavy usage which included a few hours of watching HD movies, more than 4 hours of heavy gaming (NOVA, Asphalt 8, and Gangster Vegas), less than an hour on social media, lots of internet surfing with chrome, a few downloads (mostly animes) on UC while connected to wifi for about 90% of the time. I averaged over 8hrs SOT while having 15-17% battery left. By the time it was down to 5%, I was almost hitting 10 hrs SOT. It was magnificent. Never new a 4000mah battery could achieve this

  4. TheOracle
    September 16, 2016

    I refused to buy Xiaomi devices until the Redmi Note 3 came out of because they were too similar to iPhone’s. As a former Nubia Z7 Max owner the home button doesn’t remind me of the Nubia Halo but of a damned iPhone again!

  5. Ulti
    September 16, 2016

    This better be fake. That’s really disappointing if they did just outright copy it.

    My real wait is for the Mi Note 2 though. Release it already damnit!

  6. sere83
    September 16, 2016

    looks fake

  7. Simon S.
    September 16, 2016

    I hate how Apple has legally made a god damn circle button their own. I wonder when they will begin charging for it when you draw a circle square on a paper and sue you because it ‘s made by Apple …

    I like how the Mi Note 2 looks … but look at that god damn prices of recent Xiamo Devices. In germany it’s rumored that it will cost > 400€ without taxes and import duties.

    They keep increasing their prices while they silently downgrade internal specs (like they did with the Mi4 camera originally featuring a f1.8 lens and better sensor in all following devices Mi4s, Mi5 …).

    If thats true – no but no thanks. Even if they look pretty, no reason to buy a chinese brand with limited LTE-Band support and no customer support for that price outside of China not matter the Open-Source-Community-Support.

    • balcobomber25
      September 16, 2016

      It’s not Apple that would be suing them, it’s ZTE.

  8. Alexey D
    September 16, 2016

    xiaomi just should trow some cash at Nubia and tell em to stfu coz that button looks grate. tho it could be a bit bigger and have few led colors to show missed calls txt etc.

  9. Twister12
    September 16, 2016

    Xiaomi are just making some noise to attract interest. They already lost their edge. It’s a fact that they lost big time their market share in China from the likes of Huawei, Vivo & Oppo. It’s not about who has the lowest price anymore, and unless they do something significant I think it will be more downhill for them.

    • Karly Johnston
      September 16, 2016

      It isn’t about lowest price right. It is about whose phone explodes the least.

      • Twister12
        September 16, 2016

        Yeah. And that too.

  10. Ionut Johnny
    September 16, 2016

    Mi Note 2 looks much better, that ring button seems similar to iphone but its a bit smaller.

  11. NextHype
    September 16, 2016

    Xiaomi’s would be living an intense identity crisis to deliver such home button ^^

  12. xi7
    September 16, 2016

    mi 5s and mi note 2 and letv pro 3 …. awaiting

  13. xi7
    September 16, 2016

    mi note 2 or letv pro 3 🙂

  14. Zeca-BR
    September 16, 2016

    The unit’s edge is wide. Enough of that. I want a device without edges !!!

  15. Assefa Hanson
    September 16, 2016

    I saw the Huawei Nova’s (regular nova not nova plus) software video stabilization on pocketnow absolutely incredible makes ois look absolete now the mi5’s 4axis stabilization looks even more pathetic this 5s better improve in everyway