Xiaomi is stealing Apple's spotlight by adding a feature that is rumored to be included in next year's iPhone 8.
Dubbed the "Apple of China," Xiaomi is known for its high-quality Android smartphones that are up to par with the California-based tech company's own devices. However, it gets its nickname because the Chinese smartphone maker can be seen as an Apple copycat.
And nothing proves this more than the upcoming launch of its new flagship smartphone.
On Tuesday, Sept. 27, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus, taking more from Apple than how it names its smartphones. The company actually beat Apple at its own game and put its fingerprint sensor under the glass on the new Mi 5s phone.
Xiaomi calls this feature its new "ultrasonic" home button, and it does essentially the same thing Apple may be looking to achieve. The tech consists of embedding the sensor underneath the glass of the smartphone and releasing ultrasound waves that go through the glass to read a finger when it is placed on the sensor.
Ultrasonic scanning technology is said to be the most accurate when it comes to reading fingerprints since dirt or other particles don't interfere when the finger is placed.
We can't know for sure what Apple has in store for its next iPhone, but rumor has it that it is planning on removing the home button. Instead it might hide the fingerprint reader to have Touch ID integrated into the display so that the smartphone has a completely smooth top surface without any grooves.
This was something many thought the iPhone 7 or 7 Plus would bring with it, but Apple might be saving this major redesign for its 10th anniversary phone next year.
Apple has two patents pending regarding moving its Touch ID fingerprint sensor under the display; however, this doesn't mean that Apple will be applying the tech to its home button the next time around.
Since Xiaomi now beat Apple to it, it remains unknown if the fingerprint feature will make a huge splash here in the States. But chances are it still will, especially since Xiaomi smartphones are not sold in the United States and it will take this idea one step further by integrating it deeper.
It's important to note that Xiaomi's reader is just under the glass, not on the actual display. There is still an indent where the home button would be, but now the user now only needs to apply pressure directly on the glass to have their fingerprint scanned.
Besides using an "s" in its name and this Apple copycat fingerprint feature, Xiaomi's Mi 5s is completely a different smartphone from the iPhone.
The Mi 5s and 5s Plus also differ from the Mi5 by featuring a metallic and not glass body along with its 2.5D glass front. The Mi 5s has a Snapdragon 821 processor, either 3 GB of RAM with 64 GB of storage or 4 GB of RAM with 128 GB of storage, and a 3,200 mAh battery. It has a 5.15-inch 1080p display, with its best feature being its cameras. The smartphone has a 4-megapixel front-facing camera with an 80-degree wide-angle lens and a 12-megapixel Sony IMX378 CMOS sensor for low-light capture.
The Mi 5s Plus has a 5.7-inch screen with a 4-megapixel front-facing camera and a 13-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization. It comes with either 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage or 6 GB RAM and 128 GB of storage, and has a 3,800 mAh battery. The Plus has its fingerprint scanner located on the back of the device.
The Xiaomi Mi 5s starts at 1,999 yuan ($300), whereas the Mi 5s Plus starts at 2,999 yuan ($345). Preorders start on Sept. 29 in China.
