The transparent back panel of the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition doesn’t show the smartphone’s real internals, according to one industry insider citing sources from China. The Beijing-based original equipment manufacturer sparked some heated debates shortly after unveiling its latest Android flagship lineup yesterday, with numerous industry watchers arguing the back of the Explorer Edition model only shows a sticker, a notion that Xiaomi denied, having told The Verge that the components observable through the transparent back glass of the device are “parts of the actual mainboard.”
According to the newly emerged information from the Far Eastern country, while the initial sticker theory is incorrect, the parts seen on the rear side of the Mi 8 Explorer Edition are just dummy components installed on top of an actual motherboard and physically removing them wouldn’t impact any functionality of the smartphone. Individuals who were skeptical of the legitimacy of the visible components from the start argued the chips and other components are too far apart, adding that the supposed Snapdragon 845 was installed too high up the motherboard. Transparent backs are not a novelty in the mobile industry, with HTC being their most avid supporter, having most recently released a Translucent Blue version of the U12 Plus flagship. See-through panels that show actual phone components are usually much less flashy as their design and placement isn’t guided by aesthetic choices.
Xiaomi itself already acknowledged the parts seen through the back of the Mi 8 Explorer Edition aren’t meant to be perfectly representative of the hardware that powers it but insists they’re “real” in the sense that they physically exist and aren’t just a printed image. The limited edition of the Android flagship is expected to be treated to several teardowns which should provide more details on its unconventional rear plate in the coming days. The smartphone itself is set to go on sale in China later this month and should soon become available for purchase on a global level as well.