What you need to know
- Recent rumors claim that Xiaomi is working on a privacy screen for its devices, but it will do it differently than Samsung.
- The company could look at software to achieve this, and could do so for HyperOS 4 (Android 17) “later this year.”
- Rumors following the Galaxy S26 Ultra’s debut claimed that other OEMs were looking to pursue Samsung’s newest feature, with Xiaomi and Honor being highlighted as potential candidates.
Samsung’s privacy screen was a real highlight for the Galaxy S26 series, and another rumor expands on which of its competitors will do the same.
Rumors about this have continued on social media, with tipster Yogesh Brar. claiming that Xiaomi is working on a privacy screen (via Digital trends). Brar’s early speculation claims that Xiaomi is working on a feature that is “like” Samsung’s privacy screen. This could be because the Chinese OEM is looking for a path to this security feature through software.
Brar claims that Xiaomi could implement its version of Privacy Display through a future HyperOS update. The post says this could arrive with HyperOS 4 “later this year.” It’s still unclear exactly how this could work, especially since Xiaomi is (supposedly) going down a software route, not a hardware one. As the post theorizes, Xiaomi’s software-based privacy screen could have some significant limitations compared to a hardware version.
We’ll have to see what this looks like to know for sure. Brar’s claim suggests that HyperOS 4 will carry this, which is based on Android 17. Last year, Xiaomi began its major HyperOS launch in late October. Maybe we will see similar behavior again and with this privacy viewer software.
Competence
Shortly after the debut of the Galaxy S26 series, we were already seeing reports that Samsung’s competitors were eyeing Privacy Display. Rumors He stated that there were already more OEMs seeking to reflect its technology. No details were given, but it was speculated that such OEMs could include Xiaomi and perhaps Honor. The most curious thing is that the informant alleged that these companies would implement a Privacy Display like Samsung, at the hardware level.
However, what we are seeing today rumored about Xiaomi is that it could turn to software to make this happen. It’s a curious change, one that makes us even more curious about how this would play out. Previous rumors said that we could see other OEMs’ version of Samsung’s privacy screen later this year, in September and beyond. Samsung’s new feature is incredibly welcome, especially for the sake of user privacy. But he’s not completely blameless..
In our tests, it seems that the inclusion of said technology has negatively impacted the brightness of the S26 Ultra. The screen is slightly darker than the S25 Ultra from all angles.
Android Central’s opinion
I’m very curious to know how a software version of Privacy Display would work. Previously, Samsung was solving a privacy problem for users and eliminating the need to search for an external version to stick with. Sure, both have their negative aspects, but they do their job. For Xiaomi, if I am to believe this rumor, how would the software achieve this? Hopefully, I won’t have to wait too long to find out.
