Rumor: Xiaomi and Huawei are making smartphones with Samsung’s Edge screens

Chinese manufacturers Huawei, Xiaomi and Vivo are said to be working on smartphones with Samsung Edge screens. The South Korean manufacturer has been using the Edge screens in its own smartphones for a year and a half.

Samsung’s screen division is said to have actively promoted the technology to the Chinese brands, South Korean site ETNews reported on the basis of anonymous sources. The products are said to be currently in development, although Vivo is expected to present the first smartphone with curved edges on both sides this week.

Images of this smartphone, the XPlay5, have appeared on the Chinese social network Weibo in recent days. These images clearly show the curved screen edges. The Xplay5 would run on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 and be the first Android smartphone with a memory of 6GB. Samsung could sell the technology to companies other than Samsung Mobile, because it can now make more inventory and get better yields than when it started mass production a year and a half ago.

The deal with Chinese smartphone makers is obvious, because they are very focused on reducing the bezels around the screen. Oppo, also Chinese, tried to minimize the bezels with projection last year. Manufacturers active in the West, such as Apple, LG, Sony and HTC, have less eye for minimizing bezels.

Nothing is known about the devices from Xiaomi and Huawei. Xiaomi presented its Mi 5 at the Mobile World Congress telecom fair last week with minimal bezels, but without curved edges. Huawei will probably present its P9 soon.

It would not be the first devices after Samsung with curved Edge screens. BlackBerry released the Priv last year, an Android smartphone with curved edges. The screen of the Priv also comes from the Samsung factories.

Suspected Vivo Xplay5. Source: @jetaimetech