14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft, the developer of Windows Phone/Windows 10 Mobile, is becoming more involved in the Android ecosystem, not only with apps developed to run on Google’s platforms but also with phones that are sold directly in its stores worldwide.
After announcing a partnership with Samsung to sell the brand-new Galaxy S8 in the Microsoft Store, the Redmond-based software giant looks to be expanding its Android device lineup that it offers to its buyers with a Xiaomi model.
The Chinese Microsoft Store is now selling the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus for 2599 Yuan ($334), and probably the most frustrating, it does that while no Windows phones are available locally. Microsoft is also offering 2-year warranty with the Xiaomi phone, so if anything breaks down within 24 months after purchase, just bring the Android device back to the Microsoft Store and the company takes care of everything.
This means that whoever steps into the Chinese Microsoft store can buy an Android phone and not one that’s running Windows 10 Mobile, even though it just makes sense for Microsoft to highlight its own devices first, and only then, if absolutely necessary, those developed to run rival operating systems.
Coming with pre-installed Microsoft apps
For what it’s worth, the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus comes packed with Microsoft apps, as this appears to be Redmond’s method of invading Android devices, so you get Word, Excel, Skype, OneDrive and others pre-installed on this Chinese phone sold in the Microsoft Store.
Microsoft hasn’t said a single thing about expanding the lineup of Android phones available in its stores and there’s no evidence that the Xiaomi Mi 5s Plus could make it to other Microsoft stores in the United States, but there’s a good chance it won’t.
Xiaomi is a Chinese OEM and selling phones in local stores more or less makes sense, though you wouldn’t expect an Android device to be available in the store belonging to the company that built rival platform Windows Phone.