A famous leaker shows what might have been with discarded Xiaomi Mi 11-series designs

Xiaomi revealed that it had developed a rear panel for the Mi 11 that was quite the departure from that of its predecessors at its launch. If fans of the brand found that surprising, the subsequent appearance of the phone's Ultra counterpart might have come as an outright shock. However, as the prolific tipster Digital Chat Station may now have shown, both of these phones could have turned out with a much more sedate look.

Some might argue that designers for the Mi 11 and its Pro variant were strongly inspired by the latest iPhones in their creation. Then again, according to the new leaked sketches, Xiaomi once veered toward cloning other Android flagships instead. At least one prototype might have exhibited rear cameras located in the same general location, but in a vertical orientation highly reminiscent of that of the OnePlus 9s or OPPO Reno6s.

This hypothetical module had space for a periscope lens, meaning it could have been destined for the Mi 11 Pro or Ultra. Then again, it now seems Xiaomi was going to get even more conventional and simply rehash the Mi 10T design at one stage.

However, as we all now know, the OEM decided to go with appreciably updated rounded-square esthetics, going big with them in the case of the Mi 11 Ultra. Many users of this phone might indeed be glad of this decision, as it allows for a secondary display that is gradually accumulating more functionality with its most recent software updates.

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite also has these updated looks and is available on Amazon right now.