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If you’re eyeing the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition — or any China-exclusive Xiaomi, for that matter — but can’t live without Google Mobile Services or GMS, we have bad news for you. A while ago, it was reported that Xiaomi won’t include GMS and will no longer allow the installation of Google apps, including the Play Store, on devices from China that ship with the local variant of MIUI.

At the time, Xiaomi’s fans from all over the world hoped there would be a loophole or workaround that would allow their beloved Google apps to run flawlessly on imports. Unfortunately, frustratingly, the current consensus suggests that won’t be the case.

If the latest information is to be believed, it seems Xiaomi devices running the Chinese version of MIUI 12.5 out of the box can no longer run Google applications through any of the known methods that worked prior to the software update.

Just one of those claiming that the China-released Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition can’t run Google apps

This information comes directly from tech YouTubers who own the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition and eventually came to the painful realization that the MediaTek Dimensity 1200-based gaming phone just couldn’t run Google apps like the Play Store and Gmail, even after countless attempts and different installation methods. And they’re not also sure if that would change in the near future.

It’s likely that Xiaomi may have blocked GMS on devices running MIUI 12.5 or newer, which is not only bad news for prospective owners of the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition, but all future handsets and tablets from the brand. You’ve been warned. It’s best to buy global models from official retailers, anyway.

Now more than ever, it’s best to wait for globally released models. In the case of the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition, it’s rumored to be the POCO F3 GT — assuming, of course, there is one

Global releases should be unaffected by these developments. So you may want to wait for the international variant of the Redmi K40 Game Enhanced Edition, rumored to be the POCO F3 GT — assuming, of course, there is one.

It’s still unclear why Xiaomi decided against including GMS on its latest models, or if it has anything to do with the growing tensions between China and the United States, which has essentially handicapped Huawei’s global smartphone business. Let’s cross our fingers it’s not the latter.

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