Xiaomi's HyperOS 4 is officially here
Polished UI and "Invisible" Performance
Visually, the changes are subtle but sharp. The UI has shifted toward a "glass" aesthetic—lock screens, the control center, and folders now have this translucent, frosted quality. The lighting shifts dynamically as you drag icons or toggle switches. It’s clean, stays out of the way, and finally feels aligned with modern design trends. Performance-wise, there's a noticeable bump in smoothness and battery life, likely thanks to better memory pre-loading and load balancing.
The Shift to a System-Wide AI Controller
The real story isn't the visuals; it's the "Super XiaoAi." It's no longer just a chatbot you trigger; it's acting as the system's central nervous system, managing memory, inputs, and cross-app execution.
- Global Memory: Using a three-finger swipe up captures whatever is on screen into XiaoAi's memory. You can recall this later via natural language. It's impressive, though it currently stops at "recording and answering." I'd rather it proactively handle tasks—like seeing a food receipt and automatically logging the calories or the expense.
- Ecosystem Fluidity: This memory isn't trapped on the phone. It syncs across Xiaomi's PC apps, and Super XiaoAi now extends to Windows and Mac.
- Home Automation: The semantic understanding is actually useful. Telling it "I'll be home in an hour and want to watch a movie" triggers a chain of events: AC on, curtains closed, ambient lights set, and the movie queued up on the TV.
Xiaomi is also testing the waters with a subscription model for "Expert Mode," which uses a credit system. You get 1,000 free credits a month, but complex tasks like PDF/PPT generation eat through them faster. Pricing ranges from 29 to 149 RMB per month.
AI Integration in Native Apps
The native app overhaul is where the practical utility hits. The Notes app now handles real-time recording with speaker diarization and automatic meeting summaries. The Voice Input has also evolved; it transcribes in real-time and then cleans up the text into a coherent format once you stop talking.
One technical gripe: while both the Notes and Recorder apps use the MiMo-V2.5 model, their data isn't fully synced yet. The AI is everywhere, but the "memory" is still fragmented across apps.
The Hardware Gap and Future Hooks
For long Agent tasks, HyperOS 4 uses the "Super Island" to show progress, which is a nice touch. However, the lack of a dedicated AI button on the 17 Ultra makes some of these features feel less intuitive.
The most exciting upcoming feature is the "Inspiration Ball"—a global magnifying glass. You hover it over content, call XiaoAi, and it uses that specific area as context. It's essentially "Circle to Search" but integrated into a broader AI workflow.
Xiaomi is in a rare position because they own the model, the OS, and the hardware ecosystem (phones, cars, home). This allows the AI to hit system-level permissions rather than acting as a third-party plugin. The only real question left is whether their base models can keep up with the ambition of the OS.