It seems like Xiaomi may be cutting corners recently among the hoard of headlines surrounding the Poco F1 lately. Recently, we reported that Xiaomi had promised to add Widevine L1 DRM support to the Poco F1 as 2018 comes to an end. Following the announcement of the release date for the Widevine L1 DRM, a DRM required to enable HD streaming for Netflix, we were curious to know what Xiaomi had planned to their fleet of devices. So we decided to hook a few questions up with Xiaomi to get a few questions answered.
In a series of questions sent by our team, we asked Xiaomi if they would be carrying the Widevine L1 DRM support to its other fleet of devices. Xiaomi replied that they are planning to work out the Netflix HD issue for the Poco F1 only right now and would update the community later if they do plan to serve the same sweet treatment to the likes of the Mi A2, Mi 8, Mi MiX 2S and other devices. The question and answer went along the lines of…
GeeksULTD | Q. As confirmed in last week’s update, the POCO F1 would get Netflix HD support soon. Would the Mi 8 and the rest of Xiaomi flagships receive the update too?
Xiaomi | A. This is still undergoing and for POCO F1 only. We will release more information in the future.
As you may note, it seems like Xiaomi is solely focusing on the Poco F1 for now. Certainly Xiaomi has a number of employees backing the other devices too but it seems like they’re too busy porting the enhancements from the Mi MiX 3 to the MiX 2S and the Mi8. That doesn’t mean that the Mi8 and other devices won’t get the update, but this certainly signals that Mi8 users would have to wait for a longer while the update rolls out for Poco F1 first.
Given that Xiaomi is in no mood of revealing any major details for the other devices simply hints us that the Widevine L1 DRM could be taking a while for the company. Given that Xiaomi’s pre-dominantly Chinese audience doesn’t care about Netflix, it’s assuring to see Xiaomi working hard to bring the Widevine L1 DRM to the Poco F1 as soon as possible. There’s two clear reasons for this, and that’s to claim bragging rights next to its Chinese rivals and second, to make sure that the Poco F1 becomes an excellent option for those who have been ignoring it simply for the lack of the DRM. Sure, the Mi 8 and other devices may have to wait for a while, but once Xiaomi’s done with this, we could pretty much expect Xiaomi to officially support Netflix HD on their fleet of smartphones that are yet to be released in 2019.
