Innovation of the week

A new Chinese smartphone features a wraparound display that makes the device “almost completely made of screen,” said Sam Byford in TheVerge.com. The Mi Mix Alpha, from the Chinese electronics conglomerate Xiaomi, boasts a “surround screen” that wraps entirely around the phone, “with status icons like network signal and battery charge level displayed on the side,” along with “pressure-sensitive volume buttons.” The company is calling it a 180 percent screen-to-body ratio, “a stat that no longer makes any sense to cite at all.” There’s also no need for a selfie camera—“you just turn the phone around and use the rear portion of the display as a viewfinder.” Xiaomi describes the Alpha as a “concept smartphone” for now, but it is expected go on sale for $2,800 in December.