It is now quite clear that with the advent of one Global Xiaomi, the Chinese house has decided to abandon its company name "open to modding" and the times when we loaded everything on our Mi2 are now light years away.
Recently we have already made the acquaintance of two choices that have made a lot of discussion:anti rollback and new timing for unlocking the bootloader.
All this is happening in favor of a clear division between the terminals destined for the Chinese market and the Global ones. This need is, after all, understandable, but the modalities and timing with which these changes are taking place are creating a lot of confusion and problems for international users.
Yesterday is the latest news reported however by an admin of the international forum and not, as would seem logical, by an official announcement of Xiaomi itself.
1. Xiaomi Phones manufactured for MIUI Global ROM.
2. Xiaomi Phones manufactured for MIUI China ROM.
Basically, it would no longer be possible to flash ROM Global on phones destined for the Chinese market, and vice versa.
However, the situation is slightly more complicated and smoky due to the absence of an official announcement. So we try to clarify on the basis of the cases, unfortunately not verifiable, collected up to now.
Phones for the Chinese market
- They can (obviously) update and flash any MIUI China with BL blocked and not.
- They can lock the bootloader (BL) only if they are fitted with the MIUI China version
- The MIUI Global can only be unlocked and flashed, but only after having unlocked the BL that must remain the penalty for the brick
- They can mount Custom ROMs (xiaomi.eu, MIUI Italia, etc) but only after having unlocked the BL which must remain that penalty the brick
Telephones for the Global market
- They can (obviously) update and flash any MIUI Global with BL blocked and not.
- They can lock the bootloader (BL) only if they mount the MIUI Global version
- The MIUI China can be unlocked and flashed, but only after having unlocked the BL that the penalty must remain the brick
- They can mount Custom ROMs (xiaomi.eu, MIUI Italia, etc) but only after having unlocked the BL which must remain that penalty the brick
Basically, as you will have understood, these restrictions would only apply to phones with locked BootLoaders, a rather rare situation since for the transition from one branch to another it was still necessary to unlock the BL.
Pending the (hopefully imminent) official announcement that should make more clarity on the situation, we invite you not to abandon yourself to alarmism. We also recommend, just for caution, to curb your itching modding and avoid updating your devices if not absolutely certain of the version in your possession.
We will update this articles as new evidences or information will show up. We are also available for any clarification.
Stay tuned!
If you are not aware of the difference between the different branches of MIUI, here is an in-depth article: Guide to the differences between the MIIA versions of Xiaomi
Sorry Simone, how do you unlock the BL and flash the Global Stable keeping the BL unlocked? Do not you re-lock the flash?
The question that arises: those who have received the phone from the gearbest on duty with rogue Roma and then switched to the global stable WITHOUT unlocking the bootloader thanks to the automatic tool, what should they do? Is it enough to unlock the bootloader without doing anything else or do you need to re-flash the global after unlocking it?
Because I have a Mi Note 3 for example with Global Stable 9.6.2.0 and bootloader not unlocked, how should I behave?