In the last quarter of 2025, Lei Jun's company will prepare for the introduction of the Xiaomi 16 ProAccording to Ming-Chi Kuo, the device will implement a metal frame made by 3d printing, developed in collaboration with Bright Laser Technologies (BLT). This choice represents the pinnacle of a trend that is progressively conquering the main manufacturers in the sector.
Xiaomi 16 Pro with 3D-printed metal frame: what does it mean?
3D printing allows you to design hollow internal structures that are impossible to achieve with traditional methods. This translates into tangible advantages: lighter but equally resistant devices and optimized thermal management.
Modern smartphones generate a lot of heat during intensive use, even more so if they integrate increasingly more powerful processors. The answer to this problem, therefore, could be found precisely in these complex three-dimensional structures.
For years, 3D printing has faced a seemingly insurmountable obstacle: the speed productive. And how does this fit with mass production? Technological advances have changed the parameters of the economic equation: 3D printing no longer needs to match the speed of conventional methods, it just needs to cost-benefit ratio becomes favorable.
In essence, production will start much sooner (that's why we're talking about it now, even though it's the latest top of the range from the brand has just been released) so as not to create a hole.
The most attentive will remember a precedent: when Apple introduced the MacBook with CNC-machined aluminum unibody chassis. At the time, many experts raised doubts about the scalability of this process for industrial production. Today? It is become lo undisputed standard.
The Xiaomi 16 Pro could trigger a similar transformation. If this gamble bears the desired fruit, we will witness a domino effect across the entire Android ecosystem? Reduced weight, improved thermal dissipation and the possibility of bolder designs are advantages too significant to be ignored by competitors.
