Harmony Evans's Blog, page 40
September 27, 2025
The Apple inspiration for Xiaomi’s 17 Pro flagship range is a little too obvious
It was the great Mark Twain who once wrote, “There is no such thing as a new idea. It is impossible. We simply take a lot of old ideas and put them into a sort of mental kaleidoscope; we give them a turn, and they make new and curious combinations”.
In the world of tech – and especially the smartphone industry in 2025 – that couldn’t ring truer.
The story of 2025 smartphones is one of homogeneity; no matter whether you opt for a Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, OnePlus, Honor, Motorola or even Apple smartphone, they offer the same broad look and feel.
They’re all rectangular combinations of metal and glass, and most even sport the same combination of flat edges and rounded corners – the ‘in’ design at the moment – that make them even harder to tell apart from a distance.
It’s not just the general design of smartphones either; it gets more specific than that.
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Take Apple’s Action Button for example; it made its debut on the iPhone 15 Pro range in 2023, and was one of the first smartphones on the market to offer a truly customisable button. Some Android phones have let you remap existing hardware buttons in the past, but Apple took it to the next level.
Image Credit (Trusted Reviews)Fast forward a couple of years and we’re now, unsurprisingly, seeing similar customisable buttons appearing on other phones. They, of course, have different branding – OnePlus calls it the Plus Key, Oppo calls it the Quick Button and Honor calls it the Smart Key – but they’re all functionally the same thing. A key that you can customise to run a specific action.
It’s not the only example; there’s a myriad of software and hardware innovations that were once exclusive to a specific smartphone before being shoved into Twain’s proverbial mental kaleidoscope and integrated into much of the competition.
What I’m trying to say is that smartphone manufacturers often copy good ideas. It’s just what happens. But Xiaomi’s launch of the Xiaomi 17 range proves that sometimes manufacturers can go a little too far into copycat territory.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery – until it isn’tThe Xiaomi 17 series has been revealed in China, and it’s almost certainly going to make it to other regions sometime in early 2026 – but you’d be mistaken for thinking we’ve skipped a generation.
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That’s because, following the release of the Xiaomi 15 range earlier this year, you’d expect the Xiaomi 16 range, but that isn’t the case.
Now we already know that some Chinese brands skip certain numbers due to local traditions and superstitions – but there’s nothing like that happening here. There are no negative connotations associated with the number 16 in China; none that I could find, anyway.
iPhone 17 Pro
Xiaomi 17 Pro
Instead, the jump in numbering appears to be simply a result of trying to replicate the iPhone 17 branding.
I could swallow that pill if that were the only move Xiaomi was making, but it goes beyond a simple 17 branding dupe; it goes even further with the Pro models, dubbed Pro and Pro Max. You know which brand is synonymous with the Pro Max branding in particular? Yep, you’ve got it.
I can only imagine that Xiaomi is trying to do a sort of SEO grab here; when people search for iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max, the Xiaomi 17, Xiaomi 17 Pro and Xiaomi 17 Pro Max might also come up in the search results.
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Incredibly, though, the copycat nature of the Xiaomi 17 series goes beyond branding; the Pro models look very similar to Apple’s recently released alternatives.
Not only do the phones sport a similar footprint to Apple’s alternatives, but they also almost exactly copy the look of Apple’s new camera housing.
With the iPhone 17 Pro models, the camera housing extends across the rear of the phone, with the trio of lenses in the same triangular position as previous iPhones in the top left. Apple’s reasoning behind this is clear: it provides extra space for components, allowing for a larger battery.
Xiaomi’s 17 Pro and 17 Pro Max feature the same wide camera housing, with a similar camera layout on the left-hand side. Granted, Xiaomi has differentiated itself by embedding a screen into the housing that’ll make it easier to take selfies with the rear lenses, see the time and notifications when the screen is down and more – but the base inspiration is clear.
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You could argue that, with the Xiaomi 17 range appearing so soon after the iPhone 17 range, the company wouldn’t have had enough time to copy Apple’s new design – but let’s not forget that Apple’s redesigned chassis leaked quite some time ago. For anyone in the tech space, the iPhone 17 Pro redesign isn’t a big surprise.
My gut feeling is that Xiaomi took a risk; if the early renders were correct, Xiaomi would have its own iPhone 17 Pro with a second screen to make it look more advanced than Apple’s alternative. But if they were incorrect, Xiaomi would’ve had a totally unique design for this year’s flagship design. It’d be a win-win in Xiaomi’s eyes.
The Xiaomi 17 range is impressive, but lacks its own identityThere’s no denying that the Xiaomi 17 range – and the Pro and Pro Max models in particular – look incredible, and have a spec sheet to match.
Take the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max for example; the phone packs a top-end 6.9-inch LPTO-enabled AMOLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a triple 50MP rear camera system with larger-than-usual sensors and even houses a frankly incredible 7500mAh battery within.
Image Credit (Xiaomi)Oh, and did I mention that it’s the first Android phone to utilise the new top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 that was only announced earlier this week by Qualcomm? Because, yep, it does, with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage to boot. The phone is shaping up to be a seriously powerful beast, and I’m quietly looking forward to its wider release in 2026.
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However, with such obvious Apple copycatting this year, it feels like Xiaomi’s new flagship range lacks its own identity. It’ll just be known as the phone that looks a lot like the iPhone in techy circles – and that’s a bit of a shame considering the high-end tech on offer.
Trump Orders Declassification of Amelia Earhart Records | The Gateway Pundit
On Friday, President Trump announced that he will declassify details surrounding the fatal last flight of Amelia Earhart.
President Trump shared on Truth Social, “I have been asked by many people about the life and times of Amelia Earhart, such an interesting story, and would I consider declassifying and releasing everything about her, in particular, her last, fatal flight!”
“She was an Aviation Pioneer, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and achieved many other Aviation ‘firsts.’”
“She disappeared in the South Pacific while trying to become the first woman to fly around the World. Amelia made it almost three quarters around the World before she suddenly, and without notice, vanished, never to be seen again.”
“Her disappearance, almost 90 years ago, has captivated millions. I am ordering my Administration to declassify and release all Government Records related to Amelia Earhart, her final trip, and everything else about her.”
“Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The National Air and Space Museum shares that Earhart “was the second person to fly solo and nonstop across the Atlantic and the first woman to fly solo and nonstop across the United States,” and her flying feats thrust her into the international spotlight.
While working as a Red Cross nurse’s aid in Toronto, Earhart attended her first flying exhibition in 1918. In 1920, she went up for her first flight in California in December 1920, with veteran flyer Frank Hawks. “As soon as I left the ground, I knew I myself had to fly,” she declared.
Her first instructor was Anita “Neta” Snook who gave her lessons in a Curtiss Jenny. To pay for flight lessons, Earhart worked as a telephone company clerk and photographer.
Earhart soloed in 1921 and bought her first airplane, a Kinner Airster. Earhart began setting records before she earned her pilots license when she set the feminine altitude record of 14,000 feet in 1922.
In 1923, Earhart became the 16th woman to receive an official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale pilot license.
Earhart disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to fly around the world. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were last heard from near Howland Island in the Pacific Ocean.
Despite extensive search efforts, neither their bodies nor their wreckage from their plane was ever found, leaving their fate a mystery.
In addition to her feats as a pilot, Earhart was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic as a passenger.
BREAKING: Trump Admin Official Was Stalked and Physically Assaulted by ‘Deranged Leftist’ at United Nations General Assembly | The Gateway Pundit
A Trump Administration official in the Health and Human Services Department was stalked, recorded, verbally abused and physically assaulted at the United Nations on Thursday.
According to Fox News, the HHS official was followed into a bathroom, verbally abused and physically assaulted by a “deranged leftist.”
The unidentified “lunatic” was arrested. It is unclear how the suspect got through the several layers of security at the United Nations.
Fox News reported:
A Trump administration official was physically assaulted by a “deranged leftist” inside the United Nations Thursday afternoon during the gathering of the UN General Assembly, Fox News Digital has learned.
An official working in international relations for the Department of Health and Human Services was in New York City serving in a support role for HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the department’s leadership team at UNGA.
“An HHS official was followed into a bathroom, recorded, physically assaulted, and verbally accosted by a deranged leftist at the UN—who somehow entered the venue past multiple layers of security,” White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital. “Thankfully, the official is safe, and the lunatic was arrested, but this is part of a disturbing and dangerous set of failures by the UN after their sabotage of President Trump ahead of and during his speech.”
Kelly told Fox News Digital that the U.S. Secret Service will investigate “how this violent protester was admitted into a major national security event.”
EXCLUSIVE: A Trump administration official was followed, recorded, physically assaulted and verbally accosted inside the United Nations Thursday afternoon during the gathering of the UN General Assembly https://t.co/g0nL2BGlXS
— Brooke Singman (@BrookeSingman) September 27, 2025
This is just one of the many security breaches at the United Nations General Assembly this week.
President Trump returned to the United Nations General Assembly stage in New York City for a major address to the General Assembly on Tuesday.
First Lady Melania and President Trump walked through the building and stepped on an escalator that was surrounded by people. There were two escalators going up to the next floor. Melania Trump stepped on the escalator on the left followed by President Trump. As soon as President Trump stepped on the escalator it came to a halt. However, the escalator on the right continued to operate.
Melania reacted quickly and started walking up the escalator stairs, followed by President Trump and his entourage.
This is insane…
As Trump arrived to the UN, the escalator stopped working the moment he stepped on it.
Then the teleprompter stopped working the moment he got up to the podium to speak. pic.twitter.com/XBTgfr6zJ8
— Geiger Capital (@Geiger_Capital) September 23, 2025
The White House on Tuesday afternoon demanded an investigation amid reports that UN staffers intentionally stopped the escalator as President Trump and First Lady Melania were stepping on in a major security breach.
“If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, along with a report that UN staffers may turn off the escalators to make Trump walk up the stairs.
If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.
The Times reported this on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/NitsWbGYG0
— Karoline Leavitt (@PressSec) September 23, 2025
President Trump on Wednesday evening called for the UN staffers who intentionally stopped the escalators at the United Nations this week to be jailed.
Trump also demanded an investigation into three “very sinister events” that took place at the United Nations.
September 26, 2025
A look at some California tech regulation bills, including one banning AI use in firing or disciplining workers, that await Gov. Newsom’s signature or his veto (Brian Merchant/Blood in the Machine)
Big Technology Podcast:
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Decoder with Nilay Patel:
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Lenny’s Podcast:
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar (creators of the #1 eval course)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Future of Late Night TV, Jimmy Kimmel, and The First Amendment
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Obama’s CIA Chief John Brennan Rushes to Comey’s Defense, Insists the Disgraced FBI Director Is ‘Innocent’ After Indictment | The Gateway Pundit
The swamp is circling the wagons again.
Disgraced former FBI Director James Comey, who was just indicted for lying and obstruction of justice, is now being shielded by none other than former CIA Director John Brennan, the same Brennan who pushed the Russia hoax for years with zero accountability.
Brennan went on record insisting that Comey is “a man of integrity and honesty” and absurdly claimed that Donald Trump is the real problem, not Comey’s lies to Congress, not his FISA court abuses, and not his role in spying on a sitting U.S. president.
Here’s Brennan in his own words:
WATCH:
“John Durham, the special counsel who investigated over several years and spent many, many millions of dollars in man-hours, didn’t find any reason to press charges against Jim Comey.
Bill Barr, the former attorney general in Trump’s first term, also pushed back mightily against Donald Trump, saying there’s nothing there. So again, all of the facts that we know of right now really say that Jim Comey should not be charged.
I worked very closely with Jim Comey while he was director of the FBI, and I was director of the CIA. Jim Comey is a man of integrity and honesty.
I had some disagreements with Jim Comey about decisions or actions he took—that is natural—but I never had any doubt whatsoever that he was fully committed to the rule of law and to upholding his oath of office, which he has done.
And so, from the standpoint of projection, in terms of this Trump administration putting on Jim all of these labels and allegations that I think are really hollow, it really, again, I think, is more reflective of the Trump administration overall, which is going to continue to follow Donald Trump’s lead on this revenge tour.”
JUST IN: John Brennan rallies to James Comey’s defense, INSISTS Comey is innocent following the indictment.
“Jim Comey should not be charged! I worked very closely with him…Comey is a man of integrity, of honesty!”
“I never had any doubt he was committed to the rule of… pic.twitter.com/k92YoMofcj
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 26, 2025
The Gateway Pundit previously reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe announced that a new CIA report reveals former FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and DNI James Clapper worked together to purposely corrupt the Trump-Russia investigation in 2016 before Trump entered office.
The three corrupt Obama officials included the Steele Dossier in their quest to “screw Trump” knowing at the time that the Steele Dossier was full of lies.
It appears Brennan is not out of the woods yet and government investigators and prosecutors are zeroing in on his false statements under oath from 2023.
Paul Sperry wrote:
DEVELOPING: I’m told by FBI HQ that investigators and prosecutors have been zeroing in on alleged false statements Obama’s top spook John Brennan gave in a May 11, 2023 deposition he gave in Room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building… developing …
Sperry linked back to his July 2025 report at Real Clear Investigations alluding to Brennan’s questionable statements on the Russiagate scandal.
Read more:
China’s central bank opens a digital yuan hub in Shanghai; a Chinese state media report says the hub will oversee cross-border payments and blockchain tech (Foster Wong/Bloomberg)
Big Technology Podcast:
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The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Great A.I. Build-Out + H-1B Visa Chaos + TikTok Braces for the Rapture
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
NVIDIA: OpenAI, Future of Compute, and the American Dream
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How AI safety took a backseat to military money
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar (creators of the #1 eval course)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny’s Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Future of Late Night TV, Jimmy Kimmel, and The First Amendment
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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At an all-hands, AWS CEO Matt Garman criticized staff for slow product rollouts and demonstrated a new agentic AI product for internal testing called Quick (Greg Bensinger/Reuters)
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI’s & NVIDIA’s $100 Billion Marriage, Meta’s Sloppy Vibes, TikTok Deal Arrives?
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Great A.I. Build-Out + H-1B Visa Chaos + TikTok Braces for the Rapture
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
NVIDIA: OpenAI, Future of Compute, and the American Dream
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How AI safety took a backseat to military money
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar (creators of the #1 eval course)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny’s Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Future of Late Night TV, Jimmy Kimmel, and The First Amendment
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Google agrees to guarantee $1.4B of AI computing startup Fluidstack’s $3B, 10-year agreement with Cipher Mining and gets the right to buy a 5.4% stake in Cipher (Bloomberg)
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI’s & NVIDIA’s $100 Billion Marriage, Meta’s Sloppy Vibes, TikTok Deal Arrives?
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Great A.I. Build-Out + H-1B Visa Chaos + TikTok Braces for the Rapture
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
NVIDIA: OpenAI, Future of Compute, and the American Dream
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How AI safety took a backseat to military money
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar (creators of the #1 eval course)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny’s Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Future of Late Night TV, Jimmy Kimmel, and The First Amendment
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
SUGAR HIGH: Just Three Days After Jimmy Kimmel’s ‘Big Comeback’ His Ratings Have Crashed by 70 Percent | The Gateway Pundit
Well, that was fast.
Just three days after Democrats and the media made a huge deal about Jimmy Kimmel’s big comeback, his ratings have utterly evaporated. Since the beginning of this week when he returned to the air, his ratings have dropped by 70 percent.
It looks like his much-hyped return was little more than hype. A sugar-high lasts longer than this.
OutKick reports:
What To Make Of Sinclair’s ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ Decision Amid The Show’s 70% Ratings Drop
Jimmy Kimmel won — for now.
ABC reinstated the late-night host early this week after a brief suspension, and Sinclair agreed to stop preempting “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on its ABC affiliates effective immediately. Nexstar, which continues to block the show on its 32 affiliates, is likely to follow.
Station owners like Sinclair and Nexstar never had much long-term leverage. ABC could eventually cancel and replace its affiliates ahead of the 2027 Super Bowl, which would significantly damage Sinclair and Nexstar’s annual revenue…
Still, Kimmel’s long-term future with ABC remains a question. For those wondering if Kimmel could retain his newfound momentum, his ratings on Wednesday suggest no.
While Wednesday’s average of 2.4 million is well ahead of Kimmel’s norm (1.7 million), it marked a near 70% drop from Tuesday’s record 6.3 million.
Late-night ratings on Wednesday:
– Gutfeld! (Fox News): 3,233,000
– Jimmy Kimmel Live! (ABC): 2,414,000
– The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS): 1,988,000
– The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (NBC): 1,244,000
Now you see why CNN media analyst Brian Stelter, who so badly wants Kimmel to notice him, is touting Kimmel’s YouTube numbers this morning, not his television audience.
Bobby Burack, the writer of the OutKick piece, tweeted this:
Jimmy Kimmel lost 70% of its viewers from Tuesday to Wednesday.
From 6.4 million to 2.4 million. I expect Kimmel to be back below 2 million by Monday.
— Bobby Burack (@burackbobby_) September 26, 2025
Greg Gutfeld is already kicking all of their butts in ratings again. People only tuned in to see if Kimmel would apologize, which he didn’t. He can now go back to being irrelevant again.
Swiss microfluidic chip-cooling tech startup Corintis raised a $24M Series A, a source says at a $400M valuation, and announces adding Lip-Bu Tan to its board (Reuters)
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI’s & NVIDIA’s $100 Billion Marriage, Meta’s Sloppy Vibes, TikTok Deal Arrives?
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
The Great A.I. Build-Out + H-1B Visa Chaos + TikTok Braces for the Rapture
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
BG2 Pod:
NVIDIA: OpenAI, Future of Compute, and the American Dream
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner and Bill Gurley.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How AI safety took a backseat to military money
A show from the Verge about big ideas – and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny’s Podcast:
Why AI evals are the hottest new skill for product builders | Hamel Husain & Shreya Shankar (creators of the #1 eval course)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny’s Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The Future of Late Night TV, Jimmy Kimmel, and The First Amendment
Media and tech aren’t just intersecting – they’re fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
