MIUI is preparing to unload the burden

For users who are willing to try early and want to get experience improvement from system updates, the happiest thing is that their mobile phones can receive new system updates, and the saddest moment may be the moment when the mobile phone manufacturer officially announces the system shutdown.

MIUI announced on April 8 that some models listed from the end of 2019 to 2020, including Xiaomi CC9 Pro, Redmi K30 5G, Redmi K30i 5G, Redmi K30, Xiaomi 10, Xiaomi Pro, Redmi K30 Pro, Xiaomi 10 Youth Edition, will stop developing the internal beta from July 18, 2022. After that, if you want to get an upgrade, you may have to switch to the stable version.

It has always been a common phenomenon for manufacturers to set maintenance cycles for device software updates, but in the eyes of users who have always been "spoiled" by MIUI, this stop notification seems to have come a little too early. If you calculate the listing date of the above millet mobile phones, the development version of the update time is only in the early two years, not to mention compared with the classic model, just compared with the previous generation are much shorter.

What is wrong with the MIUI system that once supported dozens of mobile phones in one go, and even produced countless "nail household" users due to the long system update cycle?

The Xiaomi Mi 10 at the good end is "shorter"

Although the suspension of the MIUI development version for testing does not mean that the stable version that will be pushed to all will also be adjusted synchronously, it can be explained from another perspective that the official update of these phones may usher in the end. As far as the experience of previous years is concerned, MIUI 14, which is expected to be officially launched in the second half of this year, will be the last system version of these mobile phones, and it will not necessarily continue to upgrade the bottom of Android.

The mobile phone system sounds more regrettable, but it needs to be reiterated that the decision of the mobile phone manufacturer still meets the requirements given by the Android Alliance, that is, at least 2 years of system upgrades. The Xiaomi Mi 10 series and Redmi K30 Pro equipped with Snapdragon 865 are based on the MIUI 11 of Android 10, and then obtained Android 11, Android 12 and corresponding MIUI upgrades in the past two years.

Xiaomi announced that the old machine stop is not a new thing, within the same development version of the strategy adjustment, there have been 2019 Xiaomi 5 series and other models, 2020 Xiaomi 6 series and Xiaomi 8 series and other models, 2021 Xiaomi 9 series and other models of the stop announcement, most of these past models are listed two years after the listing, announced that they will stop the development version of the update.

Xiaomi Mi 2 announced the cessation of updates after five years of listing, Xiaomi 6 is listed for more than three years after the suspension of change, Xiaomi history of the two classic products have a long system maintenance cycle, but also to like the two mobile phones left a deep impression on the users, but also in contrast with the back. And even if it is placed in front of the old model, the Xiaomi Mi 10 series and the same period of models stop a little faster.

Take the Xiaomi Mi 10 series of the previous generation of the Xiaomi 9 as an example, this phone was released on February 20, 2019, equipped with MIUI 10 based on Android 9, nearly three years later, on November 27, 2021, it was announced that it would stop updating the development version, and the latest stable version of the system is based on MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11, released on December 6, 2021. According to the latest announcement, the Xiaomi Mi 9 may not have access to miUI13 based on Android 12.

The vast majority of The same Snapdragon 855 mobile phones provide Android 9 updates like the Xiaomi Mi 9, fulfilling the promise that Android manufacturers should follow at least 2 years of system upgrades. However, some products go further, Samsung Galaxy S10 series and one plus 7 series currently have Android 12 updates, and Google's pro-son Pixel 4 series can update the android 13 official version in the second half of this year.

So we have a new question, the number of updates and duration are quite conscientious MIUI, why is it more and more reluctant to provide users with follow-up system upgrades beyond the promised?

Adjust your update strategy, or you're going through a labor pain

On how to provide users with follow-up system updates, the specific question of how long to last, in fact, the entire mobile phone industry is discussing the topic, almost all manufacturers have received praise or planted in this regard. However, when put on Xiaomi mobile phones and MIUI, which are more intensive in frequency, more versions, and more active on the Internet, the degree of liveliness is unmatched by other manufacturers or systems.

If the Xiaomi Mi 10 series and other models only stop the development version, and the stable version will update the system based on MiUI 14 based on Android 13 and later in the future, then it can be considered that announcing the stop early is a stopover measure to get out of the MIUI development version dilemma: transfer the development version research and development resources of the original less service users to the stable version to serve the stable version system that more people are exposed to.

Here we need to reiterate the concept that the relationship between the MIUI development version and the stable version is more like parallel to each other, the former is not an early beta version of the latter, and switching requires clearing data. MiUI's latest online features will be tested in the development version for several months, and then officially launched in the stable version after confirmation, which is different from the practice of most manufacturers and also affects the allocation of R & D resources.

The original purpose of the development version was to allow enthusiastic users to try out features early adopters, while collecting feedback and questions during testing to improve the quality of features that would eventually be pushed to the official system, the stable version. However, in the previous period of time, the development version has become a version that uses the function in advance, which cannot effectively improve the stable version, and consumes a considerable part of the research and development strength of most people who should have served.

Unlike the development version, which requires separate applications for permissions and manual income and data removal, the stable version is provided to users with the mobile phone factory, and these users may care about whether the work can be new enough and whether they can get updates, but often care more about the stable experience in long-term use. The stable version of the research and development resources are limited, and once made a joke that the stability is not as good as the development version, and the two ends are not flattered.

Therefore, the Xiaomi MIUI team wants to find a balance between different user needs, and adjusting the update cycle between versions to allocate resources is a solution. At present, MIUI has greatly reduced the scale of development users, actively guided users to make feedback on system improvements, and shortened the application and update cycle of development versions.

Judging from the MIUI 13 that has been updated this year, the stable system experience has improved.

System updates are good intentions, but don't do bad things

There are voices that expect the mobile phone to be updated, and the sound that cares about the length of the maintenance cycle naturally has the opposite attitude.

One kind of public opinion believes that mobile phones can use the factory system, there is no need to pursue any updates, and the expectations will decline. Such a statement should be understood and respected, after all, after a long period of use of this portable device, everyone will have their own familiar content, if it becomes strange or even difficult to understand, it is necessary to refuse to update. But most of the time, upgrading the system benefits more.

Modern smartphones, tablets and PCs, the system equipped with the factory is often not complete, and it needs manufacturers to update and patch for performance, scheduling, bugs and other aspects for a long time, in order to come to a relatively perfect state. And now manufacturers will accept user feedback, so even if it is not a major version of the update, there will be functional improvements. Therefore, system updates will make the device faster and better to use.

On the other hand, the large version of the system update will bring a lot of functional and visual changes, there are more smooth, stylish interface, new features and improvements, in recent years has brought a lot of security and privacy progress, which is not the old version of the system will not have. Some manufacturers will provide new machine functions to decentralize, and older users can directly enjoy new features, which extends the equipment life cycle in disguise.

Of course, there is a situation that needs to be explicitly rejected: some manufacturers will implant a considerable number of Internet advertising spaces and marketing pushes after the update, which will affect normal use. It is understandable that mobile phone manufacturers are trying to "open source and throttle" by opening up new revenue channels after the decline in hardware profits, but this practice that damages the user experience and word of mouth in most scenarios should still say no.

The most "conscientious" mobile phone manufacturers of system updates may also have to count Apple, iOS 15 system supports a full seven generations of products from iPhone 6s to iPhone 13, in addition to the ability closely related to hardware, the functions and experience of new and old mobile phones are not much different. The iPhone 6s was released in September 2015, and the A9 chip's powerful performance has allowed it to cope with years of system updates.

With the iPhone as a benchmark, we certainly don't want those phones whose performance can still meet the requirements of the system and applications to end the system update cycle prematurely. If the mobile phone can continue to get functional upgrades, then it can be more active in terms of user experience, brand reputation and other aspects of Apple, to know that almost all manufacturers have been compared to Apple or launched iPhone killers.

The performance of Snapdragon 865 mobile phones such as Xiaomi 10 is still in the year of beating, and even in terms of energy consumption performance and long-term running stability, there are still certain advantages over subsequent products. Therefore, the system shutdown is more likely to have nothing to do with the performance can not meet the new version, and more related to the allocation of system research and development resources of mobile phone manufacturers, such as freeing up manpower to provide corresponding support for the system of new products.

Hopefully, MIUI 14, which will arrive in a few months, will not have too many regrets, but give users who choose Xiaomi mobile phones confidence and happiness.