The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2016–2017
Xiaomi sells a 'concept phone' for real — the bezel-less MIX sells out in seconds
Xiaomi turned a design study into a shipping product: a bezel-less ceramic phone with Philippe Starck at 3,499 yuan — first sale sold out in seconds.
Xiaomi (小米)
What it had to solve
On October 25, 2016, at the same Beijing event as the Mi Note 2, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi MIX: a 6.4-inch device whose display covers 91.3% of the front, with a full ceramic body and no conventional earpiece (piezoelectric sound) or proximity sensor (ultrasonic). Xiaomi called it a concept phone — and then announced it would actually sell it.
How it works
On October 25, 2016, Xiaomi unveiled the Mi MIX at the same Beijing event as the Mi Note 2. The device's 6.4-inch display covers 91.3% of the front — a near-bezel-less screen that required dropping the conventional earpiece (replaced by piezoelectric ceramic sound) and the proximity sensor (replaced by an ultrasonic one). The back, sides and buttons are ceramic.
Xiaomi called it a concept phone and then priced it like a real flagship: 3,499 yuan for the 4GB+128GB standard version and 3,999 yuan for the 6GB+256GB edition with 18-karat gold trim, designed in collaboration with Philippe Starck. Lei Jun described it as 'a glimpse at what the phone of the future looks like', and the first sale on November 4 sold out in seconds, with ceramic yield under 5% reported as the main supply constraint.
The MIX did more than sell: it reset expectations for what a phone front could be. TechCrunch and ZOL both covered the launch as a design landmark, and over the following year 'full-screen' became the dominant Chinese smartphone trend, with the MIX's 91.3% screen-to-body figure repeatedly cited as the benchmark.
Why it lands
- Selling the 'concept' at a real price forced the engineering to be real — ceramic body, piezoelectric earpiece, ultrasonic sensors — so the hype was backed by hardware.
- A nearly bezel-less front is a constraint everyone can see and feel, which made the innovation instantly legible in photos and hands-on videos.
- Partnering with Philippe Starck gave the device design credibility outside Xiaomi's usual value-for-money frame.
- The scarcity created by low ceramic yield made the sold-out launch a news event rather than a marketing claim.
What it did
TechCrunch called the MIX 'a glimpse at what the phone of the future looks like' and ZOL reported the November 4 first sale 'sold out in seconds'. The device became the reference point for the full-screen trend that Chinese flagships followed over the next two years, and it reset Xiaomi's image from value brand to design leader.
What you can take
Don't let 'concept' excuse not shipping: commit real engineering and a real price, and the concept becomes a benchmark. A bold constraint — a nearly bezel-less front — forces remembered innovations.
Since then
The MIX line continued with MIX 2 in 2017 and later editions, and the full-screen direction Xiaomi set was widely imitated across the industry. The 2017 Spring Festival film Gate to the Future (《未来之门》), made to promote the MIX, became one of the most-recognized Chinese tech advertisements of the year, and the MIX is regularly cited as the moment Xiaomi re-entered the design conversation.
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