We have been waiting for the launch of MIUI 13, the new version of the Chinese cape that should have reached our phones many months ago. But this time we have had to wait longer than with any other update of the layer, and there are not few reasons.
Many months late
The normal thing is that the customization layer of a manufacturer usually has a validity of about a year, so it is normal that the new versions arrive every year. MIUI 12 at the time was launched globally, outside of China, in spring 2020, in full confinement by the pandemic. Therefore, a year later, the spring of this 2021, we should have known the update to MIUI 13, which would have spread to our phones soon after. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The latest news, disseminated among others by the top leaders of the Chinese brand, have pointed to the launch before the end of the year in China. In fact, there are already several mobiles that have a stable version, ready to be launched at least in the Asian country before the end of this year. Therefore we are talking about the fact that when this new layer officially comes out, more than a year and a half will have passed, and probably when it is distributed in Spain it will have been practically two years since the arrival of MIUI 12. Therefore, the delay of this new layer is being completely abnormal.
Victim of successive problems
Well, this delay is not a whim of Xiaomi, nor a strategy to align its arrival on the market with other popular operating systems, such as iOS or Google updates on Android. Rather, it is the result of a conscientious work to make this layer finally the one that users expected when version 12 arrived. Since its arrival, MIUI 12 has been plagued with problems, especially when updating to this version. We have seen that these problems have broken many parts of the system, which have been unusable for days or weeks as a result of these problems in the layer.
These problems have manifested with the interface, for example, with PiP mode, with which the rest of the screen was unusable, as well as with WhatsApp, where his messages were sometimes impossible to read. There have also been problems with volume, gestures, the new control panel, icons, problems with notifications, screen refresh, even with the Google assistant. The problem is that this has riled up users, and has led Xiaomi to launch up to two additional versions. So much MIUI 12.5 like MIUI 12.5 Enhanced Edition.
When we thought that version 13 would arrive, the Chinese have surprised us with these additional versions. All this has delayed MIUI 13, also because it seems that the intention of the brand has been to offer with this new version the user experience that everyone expected from the beginning with version 12 and that they never had. Therefore, this is how this great delay in the new version of this layer is explained, an attempt by Xiaomi to offer a layer that is truly without problems or instability.
Which means that the bar is higher than ever for the brand, after having made us wait almost two years, everything better go smoothly. If not, the credibility of the brand in this sense could be even more resented. If this version goes well, the normal thing is that the new update to MIUI 14 arrives within a year, or who knows, knowing Xiaomi, it even advances them to align them with the old calendars. Be that as it may, the reason for this delay is clear, until now MIUI 13 has not been as stable as they thought or promised.