Hugo Barra, former Android chief, now works at Xiaomi. Photo: Xiaomi

Xiaomi has quickly become the world’s third most popular smartphone maker, but according to a 2013 financial filing released by the privately held company, it doesn’t pay to copy your way to the top.

In 2013 Xiaomi made a meager $51 million in profit even though it’s valued at more than $10 billion by investors.  The filing reveals Xiaomi’s low profits are on account of the No. 3 smartphone maker’s razor-thin margins. It brought in about $4.2 billion in revenue in 2013, giving the company an operating margin of just 1.8 percent.

Lollipop comes to the best Android Wear watch you can buy. Photo: Motorola

Motorola is today rolling out the latest Android 5.0.1 Lollipop update for the Moto 360. This is the major Android Wear update Google announced last week, which brings support for the company’s new watch face API, improved quick settings options, and a number of new features.

Samsung at MWC. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

Samsung could be planning to bring forward the unveiling of its much-improved Galaxy S6 by making a surprise appearance at CES 2015 in January. Sources familiar with the company’s plans in South Korea say a second device — a Galaxy S6 Edge — will also be shown off alongside it.

It’s finally here. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android

LG has begun rolling out its Android 5.0 Lollipop update to unlocked G3 handsets in the U.K., less than three weeks after the update first arrived in Poland. The release weighs in at just over 522MB, making it the G3’s biggest and most significant update yet. In addition to Material Design, it brings a whole host of new features.

A Sony Xperia Z2 running pure Android. Screenshot: Cult of Android

While most smartphone makers work to make it as difficult as possible to unlock their bootloaders, Sony is one of a small few that almost encourages it. The Japanese company is so supportive of the modding community, in fact, that it has just published a how-to video that walks users through the unlocking process on Xperia smartphones and tablets.