Xiaomi launches MIUI for tablets, new Nexus 7 gets first dibs (Update: WiFi version only)
While Xiaomi has yet to launch its very own tablet (the Eden Tab doesn't count), you can now get a first taste of its tablet-friendly MIUI Android ROM, which is available as an open beta for the 2013 edition Nexus 7.
Context & Ripple Effects
Xiaomi arrives at tablets from strength rather than necessity: it sold 7.19 million handsets in 2012 and then 18.7 million in 2013, up 160% year over year, with the Lei Jun-unveiled Mi-3 flagship priced aggressively at $327 for the 16GB tier. What it has never shipped is a tablet — so this release is software arriving ahead of hardware.
The choice of testbed matters: instead of waiting for its own slate, Xiaomi is putting tablet-formatted MIUI into open beta on Google's second-generation Nexus 7, the WiFi-only successor to the $199 original that made cheap Android tablets mainstream. Using Google's own reference hardware to prove out your skin before committing to a device keeps capital costs near zero while gauging demand.
First-order effects
- Owners of the 2013 Nexus 7 WiFi model get immediate access to a tablet-tuned MIUI build, while cellular-version buyers are locked out of the beta entirely.
- Xiaomi gains thousands of real-device testers and usage data for a tablet interface without spending anything on manufacturing, inventory, or channel.
Second-order effects
- A working MIUI tablet build de-risks Xiaomi's eventual first-party tablet entry, putting pressure on Google and Samsung to defend the low-cost Android tablet tier where MIUI's price-sensitive fanbase lives.
- Every Nexus 7 running MIUI converts a stock-Android user into a Xiaomi ecosystem member, seeding the services and app-store attach rates that funded the company's phone business.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — skin first, hardware second — Chinese phone makers will treat tablets as software beachheads rather than standalone product lines, eroding the assumption that tablet success requires shipping devices first.
- Custom Android distributions expanding beyond phones would push Google toward tightening control of what its reference devices run, sharpening the tension between Android's openness and the Nexus program's role as the canonical experience.
The trend: Chinese Android vendors are extending their phone ROMs onto tablet hardware via open betas before committing to first-party devices, turning Google's reference tablets into free R&D platforms.