There's life in the old dog yet: Xiaomi is testing Android Pie on the Mi 6

Remember the Mi 6? Well, Xiaomi is still furnishing it with updates two years after its release. The Mi 6 launched in April 2017 with MIUI 8, which the Chinese manufacturer based on Android 7.1.1 Nougat, and has since received system updates MIUI 9 through MIUI 10.

However, not all versions of MIUI 10 are created equal. The Mi 6 received a version of MIUI 10 based on Android 8 Oreo, rather than the Android 9 Pie version that Xiaomi pre-installs on devices like the Mi 9 or Mi Mix 3. Previously, XDA reported that a Xiaomi engineer had taken to Weibo to state that the company was unlikely to roll-out an Android 9 Pie based version of MIUI 10 to the Mi 6. Xiaomi apparently reconsidered its position following numerous feedback from users.

That was back in February, and now Xiaomi has released Android 9 Pie beta builds for the Mi 6 to its China and Global branches. These are early builds, so multiple features may be unstable or broken. Moreover, XDA claims that multiple people have struggled to get the device to boot. Hence, we would only recommend flashing these builds if you know how to recover the device.

Xiaomi has not indicated when it plans to release a stable build, but we shall keep you updated when we find out. You can download the China Beta 9.4.22 and Global Beta 9.4.22 from these embedded links.