Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi is not breaking up with Android

BY GreenBot Staff

Published 22 Oct 2013

Rumors that Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi might be breaking from Android to develop its own mobile operating system are not true, company executives said on Tuesday.

“No plans,” Xiaomi CEO i n said of the idea to build their own system beyond Android.

Beijing-based Xiaomi makes smartphones running a heavily modified version of ’s Android mobile operating system. Recent reports have claimed that the company is working on its own nux-based system, but on Tuesday company executives said that is not the case, during the GMIC mobile Internet conference in San Francisco.

“ have a very good collaboration with ,” n said during an on-stage chat with lThingsD’s Kara Swisher.

“I don’t think we will branch out to a new operating system,” added Hugo Barra, vice president of Xiaomi Global, who heads the company’s international expansion efforts. Barra is a recent high-profile hire for the company, having previously been a top Android executive at .

Xiaomi would rather innovate on top of Android’s open-source model than build the foundation itself, Barra said.

“There’s no real reason or rationale to deviate from that,” he said.

Xiaomi has seen its notoriety rise since Barra joined, given his previous sting at . Xiaomi is a major rival of Apple’s in China, but is looking to exp internationally to tackle new markets.

But while the U.S. would be an important market for Xiaomi, the company does not appear to have any immediate plans there. “ want to enter [the U.S.], but only when we are ready,” Xiaomi’s n said.

One of the company’s biggest challenges in growing internationally, n said, is finding the right talent integrating its teams between different countries. Barra, he said, will help the company in that effort.

“ haven’t decided which markets to enter yet,” Barra said. Barra made some other cid remarks at the show, praising Xiaomi’s fans user-focused product development.