Xiaomi’s Mi 9 Explorer Edition won’t actually show off its internals

When Xiaomi released the Mi 8 Explorer Edition last year, it gathered a ton of attention for featuring a cool transparent rear that offered a peek into the smartphone’s motherboard and processor. However, this was all well-executed fakery as there was a sheet covering the real internals. Now, with the Mi 9 Explorer Edition, Xiaomi looks to right the wrongs of last year’s handset by announcing a see-through rear design that’s not a fancy plate placed over the actual internals.

As per a report by Android Police, Xiaomi has adopted a different approach with the Mi 9 Explorer Edition. With this handset, unlike last year’s when they claimed it was the real deal, the CEO and founder, Lei Jun has posted on Weibo that with this handset, they will not, in fact, display the internals; but rather they have etched the design on a 0.3mm aluminium sheet. Jun states that to achieve the look of the internals, they will etch out a design on a super thin aluminium sheet with a CNC machine using a miniscule cutter to create all of the tiny details that will be visible.

The report states, “Unlike last year's circuit board design, the transparent section of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition looks more like what you would see underneath a laptop. Everything is plated over, with very little of the (purely aesthetic) PCB visible. There's still a Snapdragon logo, as well as few random phrases in smaller text — "MIUI," "Super Mi," "Mi Fans," "48MP AI Camera Ultra Wide," and "Battle Angel."

Apart from this, Jun also confirmed some of the specifications of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition which include a 7-piece lens, a 48MP rear camera that’s AI-powered and 128GB of RAM.