Xiaomi has always denied reports and rumors of it entering the smartphone market in the United States. Despite the company’s products being renowned for their specs and value for money ratio, Xiaomi has shied away from one of the largest smartphone market in the world. However, that might change as soon as 2017 if an interview of Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s Global VP, with Engadget is anything to by.

Hugo has revealed in the interview that Xiaomi has started testing its phones in the United States. This is a major step for the company since it finally paves the way for it to launch its smartphones in the country. Once the company is done with its testing, it can start working with carriers to get the necessary certification from them and proceed to start selling phones through their stores. Carrier certification in the United States is extremely tough and can take a long time so Xiaomi seems to be doing its homework before it approaches any carrier for selling its phones.

“Earlier this year we had a special version of Mi 5 that we made just for testing in the US, just so that we can start testing and doing small-field trials to sharpen our chops, if you will,” Barra said. “And now we have Mi Note 2 which is another device that we can use for some field testing in the US. That’s again just another small step in the right direction or in the direction of being able to launch full-on products there.”

While Xiaomi can take the LeEco route and sell its phones directly to consumers in the United States, Barra seems inclined to sell smartphones via carriers as it will provide the company access to a wider range of customers and sales volume. However, it’s not certain that Xiaomi will enter the US smartphone market in 2017 itself. Barra says that the company is “not going to launch something until we’re ready.”

Will you be interesting in buying a Xiaomi smartphone if the company launches one in the United States?