Xiaomi to Launch MiOS as Replacement for 13-Year-Old MIUI Android Skin, Tipster Claims

Xiaomi is expected to replace the MIUI Android skin with a new interface. Thirteen years after the Chinese smartphone maker launched the first version of MIUI for its smartphones, reports suggest that the company will announce a successor called MiOS. The latest skin version available for eligible smartphones is MIUI 14. It’s unclear whether MiOS will be a new operating system based on Android like Huawei’s HarmonyOS, or whether it will be an Android skin like MIUI, OxygenOS, ColorOS, and Funtouch OS.

Tipster digital chat site claims A Weibo post Xiaomi has decided that MIUI 14 will be the “last official major version” of MIUI. The source went on to say that the only drawback to the smartphone maker’s popular Android skin is the animation. Xiaomi first launched MIUI in August 2010, and the company has released 14 major versions of the operating system so far.

Image source: Weibo/Shuchao Station (Chinese translation)

So far, the Chinese smartphone maker has not announced any plans for a new operating system, but back in August, sources Ice Universe (X: @UniverseIce) Posted a screenshot The statement stated that the “mios.cn” domain name and MiOS trademark have been awarded to Xiaomi. At that time, Ice Universe speculated that Xiaomi’s “highly customized self-developed operating system” might be on the way.

However, it’s unclear whether Xiaomi plans to launch its own “standalone” operating system based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) (much like Huawei has launched HarmonyOS), or whether so-called MiOS will be released as software sitting on top of Google’s Android, Provided to manufacturers along with Google’s services.

Photo credit: X/@UniverseIce

Even though MiOS is a redesigned version of the Android skin for Xiaomi smartphones, the updated branding could help the company get rid of the impression that its MIUI skins are advertising–Xiaomi’s skins haven’t shown ads or promotional messages in several years. But some customers will still bring ads to the software.

Xiaomi released MIUI 14 in December last year, and the company is also supporting previously launched devices running the older version of MIUI 13 but still receiving security updates. MIUI 14 drops support for smartphones running Android 11 while bringing some minor improvements to the interface and the Photon engine, which is said to offer higher performance compared to previous versions of MIUI.