Chinese phone manufacturer Xiaomi has finally unveiled its latest invention “Mimoji.” Mimojis are like 3D avatars that users will be able to customize and make them look like a cartoon version of themselves and then record chat messages with the selfie cam which will then translate movements to the Mimoji. As part of the launch of its CC9 phone series, Xiaomi has introduced this human “Mimoji” which previously had animals.
The feature is part of Xiaomi’s existing Mimoji avatar set, which also used augmented reality tech to imitate a smartphone user’s facial expressions onto anthropomorphic animals. The new version of Mimoji is arriving with Xiaomi’s CC9 phones with additional features like user-customizable human faces complete with the same basic facial, hair, and clothing elements, albeit rendered with various small changes. Writers in China found the similarities similar enough to call Xiaomi’s version a clone of Apple’s ‘Memoji’ feature.
The CC9 phones are the first that have borne out of Xiaomi’s recent acquisition of selfie tech company Meitu’s hardware assets, which more or less explains why the Mimoji feature expansion is happening now. CC is yet another new brand from Xiaomi, with the headline CC9 featuring a 32-megapixel selfie camera, a 48-megapixel primary camera, a 6.4-inch OLED screen with a small notch, a Snapdragon 710 processor, 6GB of RAM, a 4,030mAh battery, USB-C, and a headphone jack. It starts at 1,799 yuan (~$260)
This isn’t the first time that Xiaomi has tried to copy an emoji-related idea from Apple, as the company launched the equivalent of Apple’s Animojis on its Mi 8 smartphone last year. This device also strongly resembled the iPhone X design, with its own notch and vertical dual-lens camera. There was also an AirPods clone released by Xiaomi earlier in 2019.