The midframe carries the speaker with its red rubber gasket, buttons for the crown and home button, as well as a small linear resonant actuator.

Again, compared with the Taptic Engine from the Apple Watch, this LRA is only a fraction of the size. What does that mean in terms of vibration force—what’d be their score on a Richter scale?

Turning the digital crown on the Mi Watch does prompt small, haptic steps—so Xiaomi certainly seems to be trying to make the most of this relatively small actuator.

But more than anything else, this comparison shows how much importance Apple places on that relatively enormous Taptic Engine—trading a lot of battery life for more communicative haptic feedback.