Last year, the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition drew public attention for its transparent back, which offers an overview of the motherboard and the phone's processor. As many have suspected, the layer under the transparent case has proven to be a fake card based on actual hardware components. The Mi 9 is coming soon and it looks like Xiaomi is also preparing a transparent version of this phone.

Xiaomi founder and CEO Lei Jun posted photos of the upcoming Mi 9 Explorer Edition on his Weibo account. Unlike last year, when Xiaomi repeatedly stated that the underlying map of the Mi 8 was real, this article explains the complicated process of carving a 0.3mm aluminum foil with all the fake components.

Unlike the circuit board design of last year, the transparent section of the Mi 9 Explorer Edition looks more like the one you would see under a laptop. Everything is plated, with very little visible (fake) PCB. There is always a Snapdragon logo, as well as a few random phrases in a smaller text – "MIUI", "Super Mi", "Mi Fans", "AI 48MP Ultra Wide Camera" and "Battle Angel".

The publication also confirmed some of the Explorer edition hardware, including a "7-piece lens", a 48MP "AI" rear camera and 12 MB of RAM. It is not clear if the regular Mi 9 will also share these specifications.