If all the current Xiaomi rumours turn out to be true then the what the phone maker could be launching next might be very special indeed.
If you read and believe all the most up to date rumours regarding Xiaomi and their smartphone program then you will no doubt heard that;
- Xiaomi are working on a smartphone with a curved Samsung display like the Vivo Xplay 5.
- Xiaomi are planning to launch a dual camera flagship device like the Huawei P9.
- Upcoming Xiaomi phones will have Xiaomi’s own chipsets.
- Xiaomi phones will soon be waterproof.
Well actually that last point is the ‘latest’ rumour to hit the news today.
According to Chinese news sites, Lei Jun believes that making a smartphone waterproof will only increase the cost of a phone by 2-3% and with such a small difference in cost his company may well make future Xiaomi phones waterproof.
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If Jun’s math is accurate that would mean the basic Xiaomi Redmi 3S with a waterproof membrane would cost around 721 Yuan, just an increase of 22 Yuan. For those of you who haven’t been to China, a Starbucks coffee is 25 Yuan.
Interestingly, regular readers of GizChina, and those of you who have been visiting the site since the early days might remember that Xiaomi once experimented with a waterproof nano coating on the Xiaomi Mi2, and at the time there were rumours of the feature making its way on to the Xiaomi Mi3.
Would you be happy spending an extra 3% on a phone if it were waterproof? I certainly would.