Xiaomi's future phone may have the ability to store earbuds
Xiaomi's smartphone designs, be it for flagships or budget devices, have mostly been right on the mark. But, along with delivering tempting market-ready phones, the company also keeps exploring some wild ideas to meet evolving customer needs. In the latest effort in this direction, it is exploring what looks like a smartphone with dedicated slots to store TWS earbuds. Here's more about it.
Patent filed in Netherlands and China
According to LetsGoDigital, Xiaomi has filed patents in Netherlands and China detailing a device that carries slots to house truly wireless earbuds. The design envisioned in the filing shows two separate shafts that sit parallelly at the top of the phone and accommodate wireless earbuds, just like how the S Pen goes into Samsung's Galaxy Note series devices.
Plus, the buds' heads could pivot to point upward
Going by the patent, the heads of the earbuds, which may come bundled with the device, would be adjustable. This way, the user will be able to move the heads to point upwards before inserting the buds into the slot or rotate them back to the usual right-angled position suitable for listening - after taking them out of the phone.
But, could this really be a thing?
While the idea of inserting earbuds into the phone sounds great and would help people dodge the woes of losing their earphones every now and then, it comes with some concerns. First, Xiaomi will have to insert a bigger battery and more components for the charging of the buds, which, combined with the size of earbuds, may eventually make the phone bulkier to use.
Problem of cleanliness could also come up
In addition to sizing, keeping buds inside the phone may also raise questions around cleanliness as the buds may capture dirt and other particles while being exposed along with the phone. However, this is not an immediate concern, given that the patent still looks pretty far from reality. Perhaps, Xiaomi would consider this once its earbuds become small enough to fit seamlessly into phones.
