Xiaomi POCO smartphones to unify with HyperOS 4 and drop launcher

Xiaomi is planning significant changes for its POCO smartphones. With the release of HyperOS 4, the proprietary POCO Launcher will be completely eliminated, and all devices under the brand will transition to a unified interface. This move implements the company's "One System, One Interface" strategy, finally erasing the differences between the POCO software shell and the main version of HyperOS.

The key factor behind this reform is SOTA technology—Super OTA. This changes the very principle of Android updates. Previously, installing updates required a device reboot and a temporary work stoppage. Now, the system can update in the background without interrupting user activity. The HyperOS architecture separates the system into distinct modules: core components, the interface, and applications. This allows them to be updated individually without affecting the entire firmware.

Abandoning the POCO Launcher appears to be a logical step. Under the hood, both versions of the shell already use nearly identical code. Supporting two interfaces for the sake of visual differences only complicated development and slowed the rollout of new features. Test builds of HyperOS show that the distinctions between the launchers are rapidly disappearing, and the icons are becoming identical. A similar approach has already been applied to the POCO Pad tablet, which uses the same launcher as Xiaomi Pad devices.

This unification will accelerate the distribution of new animations, widgets, and tools. Features will no longer debut on Xiaomi flagships only to be ported with a delay to a separate version for POCO. Fixing bugs will also become faster, as developers focus on a single codebase.

If Xiaomi can fully realize the potential of SOTA, security updates and system patches could become nearly invisible to the user. This has the potential to seriously alter the familiar model of Android updates.