Prior to the launch of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, there were many rumors suggesting that Apple could launch these new phones with sapphire displays, but safe to say that did not happen. Apple was later beaten to the punch by Kyocera and now if the rumors are to be believed, Apple could once again play second fiddle to the likes of Xiaomi.
A new rumor from DigiTimes has revealed that Xiaomi could be planning to use sapphire for their Xiaomi Mi5 smartphone, and unlike Kyocera’s offering, the Xiaomi Mi5 is said to be of the high-end variety which could appeal to those who are looking for that touch of luxury and power. Not much is known about the Mi5 at the moment, but the rumors are suggesting we could be looking at a 5.7-inch QHD display, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor followed by 3GB of RAM.
It certainly sounds like quite a powerhouse but it remains to be seen if those rumors are true. No word on when Xiaomi will unveil the Mi5, but there are some who speculate that CES 2015 could be a possibility. CES 2015 will be taking place in the next couple of weeks so we guess we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
In the meantime while sapphire is said to be a tougher material than glass, it is also supposedly more brittle, meaning that while it will fend of scratches, dropping it could cause it to shatter. It is also decidedly more expensive to manufacture compared to glass.
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