[Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite Questions & Answers] :
Since there are no updates on the Android 10 matter I started doing some research on the hardware side on our device (Mi A2 Lite) and Mi A3.

First let's start with Mi A3 since it's the latest and "greatest" Xiaomi device. This should receive the Android 10 update first, right? In theory, yes, since it just started it's life cycle with already an outdated OS for it's lifetime... Now reading everywhere, for that device there is not a single word on official ETA for Android 10, and the users are still receiving the monthly updates, but the only hint we have to a new kernel is that in the October update, they disabled the under display fingerprint sensor, meaning they are preparing something big. That would be the most optimistic speculation. The worst speculation is that they HAD to push a monthly update while not having a hardware fix in place yet... So they had to push it, to be on schedule for the Android ONE program. The fingerprint may be the only fix in November update without pushing Android 10 on that device. Now, going deeper, at hardware level, there is not a single device in the wild rocking that SOC that received the Android 10 update yet, so we will find out really soon if November comes with good or bad news. Even the Moto G8 plus that was launched ~half October, was released with Android 9 out of the box expecting an Android 10 update sometime.

Coming closer to home, we look at Mi A2, the better brother of the Mi A2 Lite. This device receives the monthly updates about ~1week or less before us. Also, in the case of this device, except some Xiaomi tech support screencaps there is no information available recently. The October update is running nice and smooth for most users, except the cases where the update rewrote the whole system (>1gb OTA size). That may be a sign that Xiaomi checks all the systems for possibly breaches and patches them before rolling out Android 10... Or they are trying to lock down some modding features on selected devices (like Apple with jailbreak). But again this is only a speculation. What's not a speculation is that, the SOC we are running is also shared with Pixel 3a device. Which received almost a day 1 Android 10 update... which was bad as hell... and in October, they received another Android 10 (yes, a second one, which hailed users on the update page just like the first one) still with bugs, problems and a lot of complaints from the Pixel 3a user base. This only means that Android 10 is not ok yet for this SOC. Maybe the delays are due to Qualcomm not providing the right kernel for this SOC yet, so more optimizations are needed to push out a bug less experience for the common user.

While the GSI is an option, and seems stable, let's not forget that some drivers may work in compatibility mode, so they seem to work, but not optimal. Remember you can run your state of the art graphics card on your PC with the stock Intel drivers... That simply works, but it's not optimal, and may cause problems in the long run!

So the conclusion. While Android 10 is present on a number of devices we need to look at the following:

-Android 10 is present on a select number of flagship devices running the latest and greatest SOC

-SOC manufactures need to provide the closed source code to the manufacturers for optimal experience.

-SOC manufacturers may release the code in generation order - new to old, that's why low end devices on Android 10 (Pixel 3a) is still a bad experience with Android 10 (official)

-The manufacturers expect the code from 3rd party providers and only then they can expect to work on their builds. So when a complete kernel can be built, the can roll out the Android 10 update.

-The point above is ... kinda' the problem with devices that use 3rd party, off the shelf components. You need to wait to receive what you need to start the build.

-I know this post was full of negative thoughts about the Android 10 coming soon, BUT (there is always a but) let's not forget that Mi A2, Mi A2 Lite and Mi A3, all saw some weird update patterns recently, and maybe we will hear some good news this month.

Attached is the latest Mi A3 update, disabling the fingerprint sensor.