Emir BardakçıXiaomi has surprisingly brought attention to the next significant development on the software front by publishing an official announcement on the global bug report channel for Xiaomi users. While answering the questiion about the crash of the system launcher on various gadgets announced on the forum by various users, the official team announced that the long-awaited “permanent solution will come with the upcoming OS4 Major Update.”
This small but informational announcement by Xiaomi has led to confusion regarding the software development plan at Xiaomi and the possibility of the next HyperOS version’s development and announcement even before the release of the currently announced HyperOS 3, which is still being rolled out by the company at the current moment.
Xiaomi HyperOS 4 Reference Breakdown
This, of course, came in light of reports of system launcher crash problems on some Xiaomi smartphones. Xiaomi has confirmed that they have identified the root cause of this issue, but they stressed that it requires some system-level changes. It is due to this reason they included it in a major upgrade.
The importance of this clarification cannot be overstated, as Xiaomi had specifically referred to the “OS4 Major Update,” a pattern that follows the HyperOS numbering. Xiaomi had not yet officially announced the HyperOS 4, but the email makes it clear that the process of testing and development is in place.
What This Means for HyperOS 3 and Stability Updates
Xiaomi is now concentrating on distributing HyperOS 3 on as many devices as possible, including their smartphones and tablets. However, the confirmation that not all bugs can be fixed by HyperOS 3 as it stands now indicates that some architecture changes might not be addressed on HyperOS 3.
In software engineering terms, this is consistent with the recent approach taken by Xiaomi to keep intrusive changes to the system update only for major updates. This assists with improving the stability associated with the device even as engineers redesign components using a new generation OS.
HyperOS 4 and Deferred Features
There are certain features that were expected to come along in the update of HyperOS 3.1. iOS card stack interface for viewing recently used apps is one of those that have been mentioned before in development versions of the update and will now come along in HyperOS 4 if HyperOS 3.1 is skipped altogether by the developer, Xiaomi.
This will manifest an overall consolidation of new user interface features and system enhancements into a single update rather than a series of releases.
Is Xiaomi Accelerating Its HyperOS Roadmap?
At this point, there are no official announcements that confirm HyperOS 4 will be released earlier than usual. But it’s definitely unusual for “OS4″ to be brought up in open communication while the launch of HyperOS 3 has yet to be completed.
As for consumers, it is clear that the manufacturer is working on long-term software optimization. More information on this will come to light when the range of devices that will run HyperOS 4 is disclosed.
