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Xiaomi finally heads to the U.S. with a little help from Google Assistant

Lulu Chang
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Image used with permission by copyright holder

Chinese tech giant Xiaomi has yet to establish a foothold in the United States, though rumors have long swirled around the company’s plans to bring its popular smartphones to American customers. But now, we may be privy to Xiaomi devices in an even more accessible format. At Google I/O 2018, Xiaomi revealed that it would be adding Google Assistant support to a total of three smart home products, which will subsequently be coming to America.

This isn’t the first time that Google and Xiaomi have joined forces. In 2017, the two companies launched the Android One smartphone, a lower-priced but highly functional device that has proven to be quite a hit in international markets. Now the two teams are turning their attention to your living room rather than your handset, and will be bringing to the U.S. the Mi Bedside Lamp, the Mi LED Smart Bulb, and the Mi Smart Plug.

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The Bedside Lamp purports to be able to easily fit any environment, and can be controlled either by its touchscreen panel or the Mi Home app. As for the Smart Bulb, with 16 million color options, you can set the mood for any situation, and thanks to its Assistant integration, you won’t have  to get out of bed to turn off the lights. You can also use voice commands to adjust the brightness and color temperature. The Wi-Fi plug, on the other hand, will help you turn non-smart devices into connected 21st century appliances, and make it possible for you to turn said devices on and off by voice command.

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As Xiaomi noted in a blog post, all of these “smart home products will now work with the Google Assistant, allowing users to control products through a smart speaker, like the Google Home, or with the Google Assistant app.”

We know that the Mi Bedside Lamp will certainly be made available in the U.S. later in May, but there’s no word yet as to when we can expect the connected light bulb or smart plug. There are also no further details on what pricing might look like, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as we learn more.

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Lulu Chang
Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
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