Xiaomi May Bring Samsung-Like Privacy Display Feature to HyperOS 4 and Xiaomi 18 Series

Xiaomi could soon introduce a Samsung-style Privacy Display feature with HyperOS 4 and the upcoming Xiaomi 18 series. Unlike Samsung’s hardware-based implementation on the Galaxy S26 Ultra, Xiaomi’s solution is expected to rely on software, potentially making the feature available on more devices without affecting brightness or display quality.

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Smartphone display technology has undergone a significant evolution within recent years. All brands were striving to increase brightness levels, minimize bezels, boost refresh rates, and implement AI capabilities in their products. However, in spite of all efforts of mobile phone developers to make displays more immersive and easy to perceive for users, there emerged an interesting trend going against the current.

Back in January this year, Samsung launched its innovative Privacy Display mode in the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra. This mode was aimed at helping customers avoid people looking at the smartphone's display while traveling in public transport or sitting in a cafe, airport, or office. In turn, the latest leaks indicate that Xiaomi may launch the same privacy feature for its new line of mobile phones using HyperOS 4 operating system.

According to the famous tipster Yogesh Brar, Xiaomi will develop a Samsung-like privacy mode to launch within this year, as a part of HyperOS 4, which will be released by Xiaomi as its newest software. It worth noting that there also exists an announcement made by the Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station regarding the testing of advanced privacy modes on several flagship Chinese smartphones.

If the leaks turn out to be accurate, the upcoming Xiaomi 18 Series could become one of the first smartphone lineups from the company to feature this new privacy-focused technology.

What Is Samsung’s Privacy Display Technology?

It should be noted that Samsung’s approach is relatively highly developed as it involves the use of specific hardware rather than software tricks. As per reports, the Galaxy S26 Ultra employs the so-called Flex Magic Pixel technology, which allows altering pixel behavior to make the screen less visible when viewed at side angles.

That is, the owner of a smartphone can see its screen perfectly clearly while the surrounding viewers see a black or distorted image on their devices. It is similar to what was employed by premium business laptops produced by HP Sure View or Lenovo PrivacyGuard screens.

The technology is extremely beneficial for the owners of smartphones dealing with private or sensitive data, sending personal messages, working with financial information, or using the device for other similar purposes.

Still, Samsung has faced criticism in this matter, too. Namely, some Galaxy S26 Ultra users have complained that due to the new technology the device became darker to look at and somewhat discomforting to watch at one stretch unlike Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Xiaomi’s Approach Could Be Software-Based

In contrast to Samsung’s largely hardware-based solution, Xiaomi’s seems to be based much more on software at present. Given that the function supposedly does not depend on special display hardware but on HyperOS 4, its operation must necessarily differ from Samsung’s.

Leaked information indicates that Xiaomi’s solution might turn out to be akin to BlackBerry’s Privacy Shade feature, which made use of the screen dimming technique, leaving just a tiny active portion of the screen visible to the user. Thus, one could use his or her phone freely without additional hardware devices.

Indeed, a software-based approach might bring Xiaomi an edge over its competitor because there would be no need for any special hardware solutions, and hence it might prevent all problems with decreased luminosity, higher power usage, or eye strain.

However, most importantly, software privacy features can be easily scaled on various devices. While Samsung limits its usage to only flagship products, Xiaomi could integrate it into older products using future HyperOS updates.

This would make it much easier for people to gain access to it than Samsung's version that seems to have limited availability for now.

Privacy Features Are Becoming More Important

The increasing trend towards displaying privacy is due to how smartphones are increasingly being used in everyday life. Smartphones now serve a wide range of purposes ranging from office emails and payments to private communication and personal information.

With people increasingly working from home or traveling all the time, the concern about "shoulder surfing" has also been on the rise. Display modes designed to increase privacy can minimize the chances of someone reading your phone screen from behind.

In the coming years, we will likely see this trend become increasingly popular among Android flagships.

Though Xiaomi hasn’t officially confirmed the feature, some rumors suggest that HyperOS 4 will help introduce many new privacy-related features on its mobile products.

Xiaomi 18 series is also expected to be released as Xiaomi's upcoming flagship smartphone series, becoming the perfect platform for showing off their latest innovations in displays and software.

For people concerned with display privacy on their smartphone, it might pay off to wait and compare how Xiaomi implemented this feature compared to Samsung’s hardware-driven feature. Should Xiaomi achieve the same level of protection using software alone without lowering brightness or sacrificing viewability, it could very well become one of the more useful features in smartphones.

Only time will tell whether Xiaomi will indeed implement such privacy features using its own HyperOS 4 mobile operating system.