10 myths about Xiaomi: did you know?

We need to talk about Xiaomi. The company has quietly moved up to third place in global smartphone market share, right behind Apple. Two years ago, Xiaomi wasn’t even on my radar. When something isn’t widely known yet, a lot of myths float around. I searched forums, comments and your messages for the current ones and I’m checking ten of them.

1. “Xiaomi doesn’t offer premium smartphones”

False. For some time now, Xiaomi has offered smartphones in the upper and high-end classes.

• Xiaomi 14T Pro: under €800 recommended retail price (RRP), MediaTek Dimensity 9300 Plus at Snapdragon level, 144 Hz AMOLED with up to 4,000 nits, Leica triple camera. For me, the smartphone surprise of the year.
• Xiaomi 14 Ultra: Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 5,000 mAh and a quad Leica camera. It has become my new daily driver.
• Redmi and Poco: The Poco F6 costs €350 RRP and has the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3, 5,000 mAh, 90 watt fast charging and a 120 Hz AMOLED that not even the iPhone 16 has. The cheapest Xiaomi, the Poco C65, starts at €104. I haven’t tested that one yet.

2. “Xiaomi doesn’t run Android or Google services”

A clear no. All Xiaomi smartphones run Android with all Google services. Xiaomi isn’t affected by the US sanctions. At the launch event for the 14T Pro, the close cooperation with Google was explained, and Google’s Senior Director of Gemini on Mobile announced that Gemini’s AI features will also run on current Xiaomi smartphones.

3. “Xiaomi devices aren’t durable”

False. According to a Bitkom study, people in Germany use their smartphone for 2.7 years on average. Xiaomi guarantees 4 years of operating system updates and even 5 years of security updates, which is almost two life cycles. As for materials, as with other manufacturers there’s Corning Gorilla Glass, aluminum, plastic and glass. With proper use, Xiaomi is on a par with other manufacturers.

4. “Xiaomi doesn’t offer software updates”

In the past, Xiaomi was slow with the monthly patches. Since summer 2024, I’ve mostly had the month’s security update by the middle of the month. New features also arrive in the announced month. I use the most recent Xiaomi smartphones, which get supplied fastest of any manufacturer. Older models tend to wait days and weeks rather than months. Xiaomi was slower but has caught up properly. The myth is no longer true.

5. “Cheap smartphones are never waterproof”

False. The Poco F6 has IP64, is dustproof and protected against splashing water from all directions. The Poco M6 Pro has IP54 and is protected against splashing water. The Xiaomi 14T has IP68 and is also waterproof when submerged for up to 30 minutes at a depth of 1.5 m.

6. “HyperOS is a renaming of MIUI”

That is actually true, MIUI was replaced by HyperOS last year. But it’s not just a lukewarm rebranding:

• significantly better performance in use
• a cleaner, more modern interface
• deeply integrated AI features, such as the magic eraser in photo editing and Circle to Search
• interconnectivity between Xiaomi devices via the Xiaomi account: copy text and images on the smartphone and paste them on the Redmi Pad Pro, mirror the smartphone to the tablet and control it from there

Apple users are still waiting in vain for this feature. My personal highlight of HyperOS is the interconnectivity.

7. “Xiaomi is only a smartphone company”

False. I once called Xiaomi Mary Poppins’ bag. There’s hardly a consumer technology area where Xiaomi doesn’t pull something out of the bag: smartphones, fitness trackers, tablets, robot vacuums, TVs, light bulbs, e-scooters, electric cars, toothbrushes, razors, household appliances and kitchen helpers.

8. “Xiaomi products only work in the Xiaomi ecosystem”

False. Xiaomi takes a different path than other manufacturers. The products are compatible with many other technologies, the smart home devices can be integrated into other smart home systems, and the mobile and wearable devices are based on Android. You can mix everything with other manufacturers however you like.

9. “iPhone cameras are better than Xiaomi cameras”

One of my favorite myths in the comments. Xiaomi’s technologies are among the best on the market because Xiaomi cooperates with the German company Leica. Both have invested heavily in camera technology and run a joint research lab for smartphone photography.

10. “Xiaomi doesn’t build its electric cars itself”

False. The Xiaomi SU7 is built in-house, in Beijing on an area of 718,000 square meters. At full capacity, 40 SU7s are produced per hour, one every 76 seconds. 91% of the processes are fully automated, 700 robots are in use, plus a lot of AI. The colleagues at China Gadgets visited the factory, and their video is linked in the description. I hope the cars come to Germany soon.

Verdict

Nine of the ten myths are false, only the name change from MIUI to HyperOS has something to it. I’m sure this supposed underdog will roll up the market from behind quite a bit in the future.