Xiaomi's Pocket Guitar has leaked, turning the rear display into a musical instrument

Xiaomi makes a lot more than just traditional smartphones and home appliances. The company often releases cool accessories and gadgets, ranging from dedicated camera grips to portable photo printers. As the company prepares to launch foldables like the Xiaomi 18 Fold powered by in-house Xring O3 processor as well as the flagship Xiaomi 18 series, both featuring secondary displays, internal code points to an accessory meant specifically for these screens. Strings spotted in the firmware files indicate that the tech giant is quietly building a dedicated pocket accessory engineered to take advantage of the smartphone's rear subscreen.

Developer Kacper Skrzypek has shared details of this mysterious peripheral on X, identifying the accessory as the Xiaomi Pocket Guitar. Official renders of the product shows a pocket-sized, clamshell controller offered in black or red finishes. The top section of the device features eight Roman numeral-numbered buttons alongside directional controls, whereas the bottom section includes a music button and vertical grooves simulating guitar strings. This unique setup indicates that the gadget will serve as a virtual guitar for casual playing and fun. To prove this exact purpose, Skrzypek pointed out that the internal configuration files are stored directly inside a "subscreen" directory, confirming the controller is designed exclusively to interact with the rear display.

While the Pocket Guitar introduces a creative hardware concept, international buyers will likely miss out entirely due to strict software requirements. Digging deeper into the extracted XML strings reveals explicit system messages demanding that users install and update an application called Changba before the device can successfully connect. Changba is a massively popular music and karaoke platform operating exclusively in China. Because the core pairing functionalities and over-the-air (OTA) firmware updates are hardcoded directly to this specific Chinese application, Skrzypek concluded that the accessory will be practically useless for users outside of its domestic market.

While details remain scarce and Xiaomi has not officially confirmed the gadget, the leaked renders and software strings allow us to piece together an educated guess about how this quirky accessory will actually operate in the real world. Since the controller requires its own battery and receives wireless firmware updates, it will almost certainly connect to the host smartphone via Bluetooth. A user would likely hold the phone with the rear subscreen facing them to read lyrics or chord progressions generated by the Changba application. The Pocket Guitar would then serve as a physical rhythm controller. A player could press the eight Roman numeral buttons on the top half to select specific musical chords, while physically swiping their thumb across the textured grooves on the bottom half to simulate the act of strumming. The additional directional pad and music key would let the user navigate menus or change songs without ever needing to tap the rear display.