Xiaomi's HyperOS 4 Is a Bold First Step Into AIOS—But the Model Has to Keep Up

Xiaomi Finally Puts AI First

Xiaomi has always been fast—fast to iterate, fast to drop prices. But when it came to AI, the company took its sweet time. Apple's AI strategy has been delayed for two years. Even the second generation of Doubao phones is out. And only now, with HyperOS 4, does Xiaomi deliver its first AIOS.

I've been running HyperOS 4 on a Xiaomi 17 Ultra for a while, and the experience is oddly fascinating. On one hand, I'm struck by how deeply AI is woven into the system. On the other, I'm left wanting more from the broader Xiaomi ecosystem. This is Xiaomi's first attempt at an AI phone, and honestly, it's not bad.

The UI Is Restrained, the AI Is Not

The visible changes are few but polished. HyperOS 4 introduces a glass-like design language—lock screen, control center, and folders get a translucent, frosted look. Shadows shift subtly as you drag icons or toggle switches. The lock screen clock can be resized and repositioned; notifications stack neatly; folders stretch to different shapes; widgets can overlap.

Xiaomi didn't overdo the glass effect. The interface stays clean, text remains sharp, and controls stay legible. It's a nice return to mainstream aesthetics. Performance also gets a bump—better load balancing, memory preloading, and app management. In daily use, stutters are noticeably rarer, and battery life is better.

But the real story is under the hood. AI is everywhere.

Super Xiao Ai: The Brain Behind the System

Super Xiao Ai is no longer just a voice assistant. It's the system's central controller—managing memory, input, and cross-app actions. Earlier this year, Xiaomi split Xiao Ai (which has over 100 million monthly active users) into three parts: model infrastructure, cloud engineering, and on-device products. The base model is handled by the MiMo team, while product features are distributed across business lines. This shift shows AI moving from a single product to the company's foundational infrastructure.

The result is AI that touches everything—memory, apps, and interaction.

Memory That Actually Remembers

Xiao Ai Memory is a global feature. Swipe up with three fingers anywhere, and the system recognizes the screen and stores it for later. Ask Xiao Ai to find it, and it will. Recognition is solid, and retrieval works well. But so far, memory is limited to recording and answering. If I capture a takeout receipt, I'd rather have it extract calories or log an expense—not just tell me what it is.

Good news: Xiaomi plans to bring boarding passes and queue numbers to the Dynamic Island via OTA by the end of August. That's a welcome addition.

Memory syncs across devices too. Notes, chats, and photos from your phone appear on PC via Xiaomi's interconnect app, and you can pull files from your PC on your phone. Super Xiao Ai now works on Windows and Mac as well.

Automation for the Boring Stuff

You can set up timed tasks to handle repetitive work—like checking email or refreshing your calendar at a set time every day. I've tested these, and they rarely fail. You can even control smart home devices through AI. Say, "I'll be home in an hour and want to watch a movie," and Xiao Ai will break it down: turn on the AC, close the curtains, set the mood lighting, and get your movie ready on the TV—all before you walk in.

Interestingly, Super Xiao Ai now offers a paid subscription tier. Xiaomi is clearly exploring AI services as a way to add value to hardware. For now, using "Expert Mode" consumes points, but you get 1,000 points free each month. Each conversation task costs about 12–20 points, so that's roughly 50–80 free uses monthly. Even heavy tasks like generating PDFs or PPTs only cost 100–300 points.

The pricing plans are:

• Entry: ¥29/month (¥19/month if billed monthly), includes 4,000 points
• Standard: ¥59/month (¥39/month if billed monthly), includes 10,000 points
• Pro: ¥149/month (¥99/month if billed monthly), includes 34,000 points

Apps Get an AI Makeover

In HyperOS 4, many native apps have been rebuilt around AI. The Notes app is the biggest change. It now supports live recording with speaker separation—when you finish, it auto-generates a transcript and meeting summary, ready for editing or export. Perfect for meetings or capturing ideas on the fly.

The Recorder app also gets AI treatment: real-time captions and automatic summaries. Both recording apps use the same MiMo-V2.5 model underneath, but their data isn't fully connected yet. That's the main tension in HyperOS 4 right now—AI is everywhere, but memory isn't fully unified. I expect Xiaomi to fix that in future updates.

Super Xiao Ai Keyboard is another standout. Beyond common features like AI Q&A, polishing, and writing assistance, it adds AI voice input. Speak, and words appear in real time—it's clearly doing speech-to-text. When you pause, the content gets cleaned up into clear, organized text, with options to edit and translate. Voice input is a more efficient way to interact in the AI era, and this keyboard is surprisingly polished.

These AI touches are all over HyperOS 4. I keep stumbling into useful features in unexpected corners. That's the part I love—AI is everywhere, but not in your face.

Interaction: The Super Island and a Missing Button

For longer agent tasks, progress appears on the Super Island (Xiaomi's version of the Dynamic Island), so you always know what step it's on. Global AI writing and memory are handy too. But the Xiaomi 17 Ultra lacks a dedicated AI button. Features like memory and voice input aren't intuitive when you're not looking at the screen. I hope the Xiaomi 18 series adds one.

One feature I'm excited about hasn't shipped yet: the Inspiration Ball. It's a global magnifying glass—you park it anywhere on screen, then summon Xiao Ai, and it can search or answer questions about whatever is under the glass. That's a precise context window for the AI without describing which screen it's on. Circle to select becomes a natural input. Combined with memory, one remembers, the other retrieves.

A Strategic Bet, Not a Gimmick

Xiaomi's first AIOS is pragmatic. It solves real problems rather than chasing headlines. And the company's position is unique: it owns the base model, the operating system, and a sprawling device ecosystem—phone, car, smart home—all under one roof. That's rare globally.

When the model is tightly coupled with the OS, AI can reach system-level data and permissions directly, not just as an app wrapper. Interconnectivity lets context flow across devices—what you jot down on your phone, your PC can use; your habits inform your smart home. While rivals debate which model to integrate, Xiaomi has already embedded its own.

But tight coupling cuts both ways. If the base model's intelligence lags behind what the system demands, errors multiply. Wrong memories, half-done tasks—they become system-level failures. Xiaomi has pledged ¥60 billion over three years to AI, which isn't lavish by industry standards. It's a big challenge, but also a massive opportunity.

"AI+" is replacing "Internet+" as Xiaomi's core narrative. HyperOS 4 shows the strategy and ambition. The real question is: how smart can the driving model get?

The true era of AI phones is about to begin. Xiaomi has its cards on the table. The strategy is clear. Now it's a matter of execution—and time.