Microsoft Windows
IN PHOTO: Microsoft Corp's Ashley Frank talks about Windows 10 at the annual shareholders' meeting in Bellevue, Washington December 3, 2014. Reuters/Jason Redmond

At the WinHec (Windows Hardware Engineering Community) conference that was held at Shenzhen, China on March 18 and 19, Microsoft announced that it will build a custom ROM of Windows 10 that can be easily flashed on an Android device. The Windows 10 ROM has been already spotted on some of the powerful Chinese smartphones such as the Xiaomi Mi 4 and the ZTE Nubia Z9.

Flashing an Android device with a Windows 10 ROM will completely transform it in a fully functional Windows 10 device. The major aim of launching the Windows 10 ROM is that the Redmond giant wants Android device owners to switch to its new operating system without purchasing a new smartphone.

Xiaomi Mi 4 is the first Android device that is being tested with the Windows 10 ROM. A slew of photos of Xiaomi Mi 4 powered with Windows 10 have surfaced on Twitter. Hugo Barra, the CEO of Xiaomi has published a post on his Google+ account. He says that Xiaomi is not partnering with Microsoft and the company is actually working with Mi fans on an experimental program for trying the Windows 10 custom ROM.

He added that the Windows 10 ROM will not run over Android OS or come as a dual boot option. However, in order to use Windows 10 on an Android smartphones, users will have to flash it with the Windows 10 ROM just like they would flash their device using an Android ROM. As of this writing, Microsoft is carrying out the experimental program only in China.

ZTE Nubia Z9 that features a Snapdragon 810 chipset under its hood is another smartphone that has been spotted running Windows 10 OS, reports Giz China via Mydrivers (Chinese source). The Nubia Z9 was showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 tech expo that was held at the beginning of this month but it has not been released in the market yet.

The tech specs of the device listed on GSM Arena says that it will come preloaded with Android 5.0.2 Lollipop but Giz China states that the leaked images show that device is not running on Android OS but on Microsoft’s operating system. It is not clear whether the Nubia Z9 will be available in two variants, one running on Android Lollipop and the other one running on Windows 10.

Do you want to flash Windows 10 ROM on your Android device? Do let us know your views by adding comments.

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