The iKKO Mind One turned heads last summer with its unusual take on what a mini-smartphone could look like. The device, built around a small square display and a flip-out camera module, earned a modest following for its quirky design. Now, nearly a year later, a familiar formula has resurfaced from an unexpected source. Coolpad, a name that once dominated China’s smartphone market but has since faded from the spotlight, has unveiled its own square-shaped mini-phone. The newcomer is called the Coolpad Small Cube.
Coolpad appears to have borrowed heavily from the Mind One’s playbook. The Small Cube carries a square body, a flip-out camera, and even button labels on the rear panel that echo iKKO’s approach. A dedicated hardware key triggers AI functions, though Coolpad swaps in its own DroiClaw agent rather than iKKO’s solution. The similarities extend to the chipset as well. Both devices run on MediaTek’s Helio G99 processor.
The Small Cube cuts corners in several areas to hit its lower price point. Its single rear camera tops out at 13 megapixels and uses a noticeably smaller sensor than the Mind One’s setup. The 3.95-inch IPS panel offers a resolution of 720 by 720 pixels, a step down from the 1240 by 1080 found on iKKO’s device. Memory and storage are trimmed to 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal space, compared to 8 GB and 256 GB on the original. Battery capacity actually moves in the opposite direction, with Coolpad squeezing in a 2450 mAh cell versus the 2200 mAh pack inside the Mind One.
Perhaps the most dramatic difference sits in the pricing. The Coolpad Small Cube launches at 999 yuan, which works out to roughly $140 (€130) or about 11,000 Russian rubles. The iKKO Mind One, by contrast, commands 376 euros, approximately $410 or 33,500 rubles. That gap puts the Small Cube in a very different bracket, though buyers will need to weigh whether the scaled-back specs justify the savings. For shoppers weighing durability and battery life in other form factors, the Vivo Y600 Turbo offers another recent option built around a massive power cell and rugged design.
