Google released Android 9 Pie for the Google Pixel/XL and the Google Pixel 2/XL last week. The latest version of Android comes with significant improvements including a new gesture navigation system, a new Material Design theme, Digital Well-being, privacy and security improvements, and more. In terms of updates, the Essential Phone is the only third-party Android phone to have received the Android Pie update so far (in fact, it received it on day one). Other smartphones eligible for the Android Pie beta program should be receiving updates in the next few weeks, but for those smartphones that are not due to receive official updates especially quickly, there is always the development community to help.

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S was part of the Android Pie beta program, and Xiaomi is testing an alpha build of Android Pie for it. Other Xiaomi smartphones probably won't receive Android Pie updates for months, but users interested in trying out AOSP can use Android Pie today. This week we saw the Qualcomm variant of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 receive a stable Android Pie port with everything working. Xiaomi phones have a thriving development community on XDA, so it's no surprise to see that the Xiaomi Mi 3/Xiaomi Mi 4 and the Xiaomi Redmi 4X have also received stable Android Pie ports.

The Xiaomi Mi 3 and the Xiaomi Mi 4 share a common device code-name: cancro. It means that the same ROM will work on both devices. The only bug noted by the developers is that users are unable to increase or decrease headphone volume. It's great to see the Mi 3/Mi 4 receiving nearly stable Android 9 Pie ports considering the facts that a) Android Pie is only a week old, and b) The Xiaomi Mi 3 and the Mi 4 were released in 2013 and 2014 respectively.

The Xiaomi Redmi 4X (device code-name: santoni) on the other hand, was released in 2017 as the successor to the Redmi 3S. In India, it's sold as the Redmi 4, which is yet another example of Xiaomi's confusing branding. The Android 9 port is itself ported from the Redmi Note 4's Android Pie port. Users will need to flash some patches flashing the ROM, and they can check out the instructions to do so in the ROM thread.

Users interested in trying out the newest version of Android should check out the source links.


Download AOSP Android 9 Pie for the Xiaomi Mi 3/Mi 4Download AOSP Android 9 Pie for the Xiaomi Redmi 4X