Google brings ARCore to China, where Play Store isn't available, through a partnership with the Xiaomi App Store on the Mi Mix 2S smartphone
Abner Li / 9to5Google :
Context & Ripple Effects
ARCore has been widening device by device since its August 2017 preview, which targeted only the Pixel and Galaxy S8 before a Samsung partnership extended it across Samsung's lineup. The Xiaomi deal is the first step outside Google's own hardware orbit — and the first into a market where the Play Store itself doesn't operate.
It also extends a playbook Google had just begun in China: days after this story, [[a:930120|Files Go launched there through four third-party stores run by Tencent, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Baidu]]. The pattern is Google shipping individual Android products through domestic gatekeepers rather than waiting for its own store infrastructure.
First-order effects
- Mi Mix 2S owners gain ARCore support through the Xiaomi App Store, giving Chinese developers a distribution path for AR apps that requires no Play Services.
- Xiaomi gets an AR-capable flagship differentiator at no platform cost, while rival Chinese OEMs' devices remain outside ARCore's supported set.
Second-order effects
- Other Chinese OEMs and app-store operators — the same four stores carrying Files Go — have a clear template to negotiate their own ARCore deals, turning AR support into a per-OEM licensing conversation rather than a default of Android.
- Google's developer tools reach Chinese users ahead of any broader service return, building an installed base of ARCore apps that would make a future Play Store or services entry more valuable.
Third-order effects
- If the per-store, per-device partnership model holds, Google's presence in China consolidates as a portfolio of individually negotiated product entries mediated by domestic app stores — platform access granted by local gatekeepers rather than by Google's own infrastructure.
- Android fragmentation deepens structurally: AR capability becomes tied to which store and which OEM struck a deal, splitting the Android AR ecosystem along national distribution lines.
The trend: Google is re-entering China product by product through third-party domestic app stores, trading its own distribution layer for access.