Xiaomi teases Animoji clone (Xiaomoji?) likely for the Mi 8

• Xiaomi posted a video earlier today teasing a new Xiaomi Emoji feature that looks a lot like Apple's Animoji.
• It is very likely that the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 8 will feature these augmented reality Emoji.
• If this is true, it suggests that the Xiaomi Mi 8 will come with 3D facial recognition features, like the iPhone X.

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First, there was Animoji – Apple's augmented reality Emoji application that came exclusively with the iPhone X. Then there was Samsung's AR Emoji, which were the same thing but for the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9 Plus. Now it looks like we will soon add Xiaomi to the list.

Earlier today, Xiaomi released the video below, which depicts animated Emojis singing a little ditty made up mostly of the word "Mi" (as in "Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do"):

The final title card roughly translates to "Three days left to the Mi 8 launch." This leads us to believe that the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 8 will feature an augmented reality Emoji feature, just like Animoji and AR Emoji. Hopefully, it will be called Xiaomoji, because come on – that would be awesome.

The Xiaomi Mi 8 is the highly anticipated flagship follow-up to last year's Xiaomi Mi 6 (the company skipped over the number seven, jumping from six to eight). Rumors suggest that the high-end device will have a Snapdragon 845, a 6-inch display in an 18:9 aspect ratio, and an in-display fingerprint reader on at least one Mi 8 variant.

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It's also heavily rumored that the device will feature 3D facial recognition, not unlike the iPhone X. With the Xiaomoji video posted above, it seems that that particular rumor is probably a given now.

A tweet from senior vice president Wang Xiang also promised that the May 31 Xiaomi Mi 8 event would feature the Mi Band 3 (the newest entry in the series of popular Xiaomi fitness trackers) and the latest update to Xiaomi's Android skin – MIUI 10.

While both Animoji and AR Emoji aren't exactly all the rage either Apple or Samsung likely hoped they would be, the fact that Xiaomi is offering a similar function in its own flagship puts the Mi 8 in square competition with the best of the two biggest names in smartphones. We'll have all the info on the new device on the May 31 launch date!

NEXT: Why do Samsung's AR Emoji suck compared to Apple's Animoji?

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