On October 31, Xiaomi launched its own operating system (OS) after 7 years of development. Its name is HyperOS and it promises a “human-centric” smart ecosystem that bridges personal devices, home products, and cars.
In Xiaomi’s press release, they outline the four major goals, namely “Low-level Refactoring, Cross-End Intelligent Connectivity, Proactive Intelligence, and End-to-End Security” for a “brand new user experience”.
Alongside the launch of the new OS is the release of Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Pro smartphones, Xiaomi watch S3, and other Artificial Intellegence of Things (AIoT) products which will have HyperOS pre-installed.
Replacing the existing MIUI system, HyperOS has a smaller firmware size by 4.31GB and features a moderately tweaked user interface.
This makes Xiaomi the second Chinese company to attempt developing a home-grown OS, the first being Huawei Technologies which was sanctioned by the US in 2019.
As of the second quarter of 2023, Xiaomi ranked among the top 3 in the global smartphone market, in terms of smartphone shipments, according to Canalys.
In Hong Kong, Xiaomi makes up 5.42% of the smartphone market, overtaking Huawei as the third largest vendor in December 2022 and holding the position until June 2023. However, Xiaomi’s market share is significantly lower than the top two tech giants Apple and Samsung.
*Lam is a Xiaomi user from Hong Kong who has been using Xiaomi smartphones for the past 4 years. He has a positive outlook towards the new releases.
“The Hyper operating system is [a] turning point for Xiaomi, as [it is] their first step to be more known by the world, ” Lam remarked. “Xiaomi has a lot of external devices [other] than phones such as furniture, or even cars, and by controlling those furniture with just a click on the phone, wouldn’t that be very cool [like] living in the future?”.
Up until the new OS release, Xiaomi users have been able to activate their smart home devices through the “Mi Home” app, which has garnered mixed reviews from users. On Apple’s App Store, “Mi Home” is rated 3.7/5 while its ratings on Google Play is 4.1/5.
Ruberee Law is also from Hong Kong and owns a range of Xiaomi products but doesn’t use the Mi Home app, sharing that it’s “hard to connect” and “not user-friendly”.
Users giving the Mi Home app a 1/5 review also cite connection issues as a major reason for its poor rating.
Customers outside of Mainland China will have to wait until early December for the international rollout of the new OS and devices to potentially benefit from a more streamlined experience across devices.
*Full name redacted for privacy concerns
Featured Image: Xiaomi