It’ll be a while before Xiaomi launches a smartphone in the United States, assuming it ever does, but that doesn’t mean Xiaomi won’t launch other kinds of consumer electronics. During the Google I/O developer conference on Wednesday, the company revealed that it’s partnering with Xiaomi to bring a 4K-capable set-top box to the United States. Known as the Mi Box, this device will be the first Xiaomi-made product to officially launch in the United States, but we don’t know when it launches or how much it’ll cost at the moment.
As I/O 2016 marches on, Google took some time to tell us about new Android TV and Google Cast devices coming to the market, and it was exciting to see Xiaomi listed. The search giant didn’t say much in their blog post, but nothing is stopping Xiaomi from giving us more details. They are, after all, known for exploiting the internet hype train. Xiaomi has taken it to Facebook to share more about their upcoming Mi Box. The images portray something that looks exactly like the current MIUI-powered Mi Box, but we shouldn’t let appearances fool us. There’s plenty of improvements to be excited about in the upcoming version, which is “coming soon the the US”. Not only do the specs prove it is very capable, but it will also be built upon awesome software, Android N. This means it will be able to take advantage of new features like picture-in-picture mode, recording live TV and HDR 4K video. This is an especially exciting device for a couple other reasons, too. For starters, it will likely be priced very competitively, as Xiaomi usually does. It’s also great to see Xiaomi bringing more products to America and expanding its portfolio on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.
