And now for the auto-selfie: how ultrasound is the new frontier for phones, and more

It is said that sound is half the experience when watching a movie, but that could also soon apply to using a smartphone.

A new application of ultrasound technology – which Xiaomi adopted last year for its Mi MIX handset – enabled the company to come up with a 6.4-inch Android handset that has almost no bezel on either of its sides or the top and bottom. This tech looks set to change how electronics are conceived, designed and used; and not only phones but speakers, VR headsets and in-car systems could all benefit.

“The trick to making a phone bezel-less is to remove the speaker, move the camera down, and replace the proximity sensor in the top of the device,” says Guenael Strutt, vice-president of product development at Elliptic Labs.

That last component – in the phone essentially to allow the battery-hungry screen to automatically switch off when you bring it up to your ear to make a call – is where Elliptic Labs comes in. Its ultrasonic innovation – nicknamed “Inner Beauty” – is what allows the Mi MIX to have that iconic (almost) edge-to-edge display.

“In the Mi MIX we emit ultrasonic waves, which radiate from behind the screen and echo from the face of the user and into a microphone,” he says. “The data is then processed by the phone.”

The microphone is already there; it’s the one on every phone that’s used for noise cancellation, essentially to remove background noise during a phone call.