Xiaomi has quietly closed the book on ten more phones and tablets. The company added the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, and several Poco and Redmi models to its official End-of-Life (EOL) list this month, meaning those devices will never see another Android upgrade, HyperOS feature drop, or security patch. Xiaomi ends software support for these models the same way it does every year: quietly, on its own Product Security Center, with no press release and no fanfare.
The phones will keep working. Calls connect, apps open, batteries charge. What disappears is the safety net, and for owners of a two or three year old flagship, that is the part that actually matters.
The Ten Devices Just Added to the List
The newest wave of retirements spans all three of Xiaomi’s consumer brands. On the Xiaomi side, the 10 more devices added this round include the standard Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro, plus the China variant of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. Two tablets joined them, and Poco and Redmi each lost a handful of regional variants.
- Xiaomi 12, global and regional firmware variants
- Xiaomi 12 Pro, including Global, EEA, Turkey, Taiwan, Indonesia, Russia and China releases
- Xiaomi 12S Ultra (China)
- Xiaomi Pad 6 (China)
- Xiaomi Pad 6 Pro (China)
- Poco X5 5G (Turkey)
- Poco X5 Pro 5G (Indonesia)
- Redmi Note 12T Pro (China)
- Redmi K60E (China)
- Redmi 10 5G (EEA)
The company keeps Xiaomi’s own device support lookup tool updated with every regional firmware build affected, and it confirms that additional Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro variants beyond the ones named above are also marked End of Life, depending on region.
What Losing Support Actually Means for These Phones
End of Life is a specific status on Xiaomi’s own books, not a marketing term. Once a device crosses that line, it stops receiving Android operating system upgrades, new iterations of the HyperOS interface, and critical security updates. The devices keep functioning normally; calls, apps and hardware features all continue to work exactly as before.
What changes is what happens when something goes wrong. Newly discovered vulnerabilities in the operating system, in pre-installed apps, or in the phone’s firmware simply go unpatched from that point forward, and Xiaomi is not obligated to fix them. The company describes how long Xiaomi promises security patches in blunt terms: it typically maintains security updates for at least two years after a device first ships, and says that window may run three years or longer for some models, depending on the device.
There is one carve-out. Xiaomi’s own security center states that if a very serious vulnerability surfaces, the company may still ship an emergency fix even for a phone already sitting on the EOL list. That is a last resort, not a standing promise, and it does not restore ordinary monthly or quarterly patches to a retired device.
A Full Year of Retirements Across Three Brands
This month’s additions are not an isolated event. Xiaomi has been working through a long backlog of 2022 and 2023 hardware all year, retiring devices from all three brands on a rolling schedule.
- February 2026: The Poco X5 5G and Poco X5 Pro 5G were the first to go this year.
- March 2026: The Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro reached End of Life on HyperOS 3 and Android 15, alongside the Xiaomi 12X, the Xiaomi 12 Lite, and the Redmi Note 12 5G.
- April 2026: The Redmi Note 12 4G variant followed.
- May 2026: The Poco F5 closed out its lifecycle on 9 May on HyperOS 2 and Android 15, alongside the Poco F5 Pro. The Poco F4 had already lost support earlier.
- July 2026: This latest batch, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, both Xiaomi Pad 6 tablets, and the newly listed Poco and Redmi regional variants.
- October 2026: The Xiaomi 12T and Xiaomi 12T Pro are scheduled to take their last patch, alongside the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ 5G and Redmi Note 12 Pro 5G, all stopping on HyperOS 2 with Android 15 and no path to Android 16.
A January count of the year’s expected retirements put the number at 19 smartphones and tablets across the three brands. By early July, a separate tally counted 11 devices that had already crossed into End of Life status so far in 2026, with more scheduled through the rest of the year.
The Four-Year Promise Written Into the Xiaomi 12 Launch
None of this breaks any promise Xiaomi made when these phones launched. Xiaomi’s stated minimum, as the company puts it, is that it releases monthly and quarterly security patch updates on its devices for at least two years after a product first lists in the marketplace, covering both Android security patches from Google and fixes for Xiaomi-specific issues. In practice, the company has historically gone further for its flagship line, but on a tier system tied to launch year.
Devices from the Xiaomi 12’s generation fell under an older policy: roughly three to four years of Android upgrades and four years of security patches for phones launched in 2022 and 2023. That was the deal on the table when the Xiaomi 12 shipped, and the March 2026 cutoff for that phone lines up with it.
Poco’s own update record has historically been harder to pin down than Xiaomi’s numbered flagship line, with fewer formal, line-wide commitments and more variation from model to model. That has started to change on Poco’s newest hardware, where Poco’s newest phones and their update promise now includes four years of Android updates and six years of security patches, a policy nowhere near what the retiring Poco X5 line ever received.
The company has tightened that promise considerably for newer hardware since, which is part of what makes the Xiaomi 12’s cutoff feel abrupt by comparison rather than surprising on its own terms.
Newer Xiaomi Phones Already Get Twice the Runway
Xiaomi’s flagship line has moved fast since 2022. The Xiaomi 13 was promised three upgrades and four years of security patches, matching the older standard, but the Xiaomi 14 added a year to both, and the Xiaomi 15 pushed the commitment to four upgrades and six years of security patches. That newer promise now sits well outside what any Xiaomi 12 owner was ever offered.
| Brand / Line | Update Commitment (as stated) |
|---|---|
| Xiaomi 12 series (2022 legacy policy) | Roughly 3 to 4 years of Android upgrades, 4 years of security patches |
| Xiaomi 15 series | 4 major upgrades, 6 years of security patches |
| Samsung Galaxy S24 and later | 7 years of updates |
| Google Pixel 8 and later | 7 years of updates |
| Apple iPhone (stated minimum) | 5 years stated; most models get at least 6 years in practice |
Samsung and Google both committed to how rival brands’ update policies compare, promising seven years of updates starting with the Galaxy S24 and Pixel 8 respectively, a bar the Xiaomi 12’s own four-year patch window never came close to matching. Some newer Xiaomi and Redmi models have separately been listed for the newer devices getting six years of support, a policy the company has extended down into parts of its mid-range lineup as well.
Banking Apps and Wallets Are the Real Countdown Clock
A phone that stops receiving patches does not stop working the next day. It keeps making calls and running apps for years afterward.
The practical risk builds slowly instead. Banking apps and enterprise software increasingly refuse to run on devices without current security patches, and that pressure tends to show up roughly a year and a half to two years after a device’s official End of Life date, once app developers and crypto wallet providers start tightening their own minimum OS requirements. Play Store apps themselves keep updating on these phones for years regardless of Xiaomi’s own patch schedule, which is part of why the change feels invisible at first.
Xiaomi’s own emergency-patch carve-out softens the edges of that risk without eliminating it. A catastrophic, widely exploited vulnerability could still get an out-of-cycle fix even on a retired phone, but routine monthly hardening does not come back once a device is on the list, and owners have no way of knowing in advance which flaws will clear that bar.
Europe’s Repair Rules Land Weeks After This List Updates
The timing lands awkwardly against a regulatory deadline. The European Union’s Ecodesign for Smartphones regulation requires five years of software updates and seven years of spare parts availability for phones sold in the bloc, and the EU’s Right to Repair Directive enters force on July 31, 2026, just weeks after this latest EOL update.
None of the phones added this month were bought under that regime, and Xiaomi’s four-year patch window for 2022 and 2023 hardware was set under the older rules that applied when those devices launched. Owners of an EOL Xiaomi 12, Poco X5, or Redmi model who want the newer support terms will need to buy into Xiaomi’s current lineup, where the six-year patch commitment already applies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will my phone stop working if it lands on Xiaomi’s End-of-Life list?
No. Devices that reach End of Life keep functioning normally, including calls, apps, and hardware features. What stops is the flow of Android upgrades, HyperOS updates, and security patches going forward.
Can Xiaomi still release a patch after a phone reaches EOL?
Only in extreme cases. Xiaomi’s own security center says it may still issue a fix for a very serious vulnerability even on a device already listed as End of Life, but that is an exception, not a resumption of routine updates.
How do I check if my Xiaomi, Poco, or Redmi phone is affected?
Xiaomi publishes the complete, region-specific list on its official End-of-Life page, which is the only place that tracks every firmware variant by market rather than just the headline model name.
Why do the Xiaomi 12 and Poco X5 get less support than newer models?
They launched under an older policy that capped support at roughly three to four years of Android upgrades and four years of security patches. Xiaomi has since extended newer flagships, including the Xiaomi 15 series, to four upgrades and six years of patches, but that change was not applied retroactively.
Does the EU’s Right to Repair Directive apply to these retired phones?
The directive enters force on July 31, 2026, and the bloc’s separate Ecodesign rule requires five years of updates and seven years of spare parts for phones sold in Europe going forward, but it does not reach back to reset the support window on hardware already past its original End-of-Life date.
