Hugo Barra clarifies Xiaomi's new relationship with Microsoft

Yesterday news broke that Windows 10 would be coming to the Xiaomi Mi4 in the form of a flashable ROM. As you might expect, this immediately led to all sorts of wild conclusions about how Xiaomi is getting into bed with Microsoft, or how future Xiaomi phones might offer dual-booting, ditch MIUI entirely in favor of Windows, and the list goes on.

In order to clarify the situation a bit further, Xiaomi’s Hugo Barra took to Google Plus with a statement. In the statement, Barra reiterates that this is just an experimental program led by Microsoft that Xiaomi is allowing, not necessarily directly participating in. The arrangement lets Microsoft work “directly with the Mi fan community in China”, but in no ways signals that Xiaomi has interest in moving away from the Android ecosystem and their MIUI software platform.

Quite the contrary. Xiaomi says they are “moving ahead full steam” to build “many exciting new Android-based features and services”. Hugo Barra also shoots down the idea of a dual-booting arrangement, or the idea that Windows 10 might run on top of Android in any way. Bottom-line, Xiaomi says they are supportive of users trying new things and “encourages them to do so all the time!”

Here’s statement in full:

We received many questions from Mi fans about an announcement made by Microsoft yesterday regarding Windows 10 Technical Preview for Mi 4 users in China. We’d like to clarify a few points.

– This is an experimental program led by Microsoft, working directly with the Mi fan community in China.

– Microsoft is working on a build of Windows 10 specifically for Mi 4 devices. This Windows 10 build will not be running on top of Android nor be available as a dual-boot option. A small number of Mi 4 power users from the Xiaomi Forum in China who choose to take part in this experimental program will have to manually re-flash their Mi 4 devices with this Windows 10 ROM, in the same way they would re-flash other Android ROMs.

– At Xiaomi, we are very supportive of users trying new things and we encourage them to do so all the time! That’s why all of our devices ship with unlocked bootloader, for example. That’s also why Xiaomi welcomes Microsoft team members to interact directly with members of the Xiaomi Forum in China. More details will be announced by Microsoft in the coming months. This program will only be available in China.

– Xiaomi continues to fully embrace the Android ecosystem through our MIUI software platform and we’re moving ahead full steam building many exciting new Android-based features and services.

What do you think of the idea of Windows 10 coming to Xiaomi, and likely other Android devices, in the future? The more ROMing options the better? Will this move actually have any positive impact for Microsoft?