Hugo Barra, vice president of product management for Android, announced in his Google+ page that he’s leaving the company to join Xiaomi, one of the largest smartphone manufacturers in China.

Barra’s post reads:

After nearly 5½ years at Google and almost 3 years as a member of the Android team — the most amazing group of people I’ve ever worked with in my life — I have decided to start a new career chapter.

 In a few weeks, I’ll be joining the Xiaomi team in China to help them expand their incredible product portfolio and business globally — as Vice President, Xiaomi Global.  I’m really looking forward to this new challenge, and am particularly excited about the opportunity to continue to help drive the Android ecosystem.

 It has been an amazing ride and true honor to be part of the Android team at Google, and I especially want to thank +Andy Rubin , +Hiroshi Lockheimer , +Sundar Pichaiand +Vic Gundotra for their phenomenal support and mentorship over the years.

 +Android team, I will truly miss you all!

Barra has been one of the most public faces of Android, recently unveiling the latest version of Google’s Nexus 7 back in July.  He held an integral role in Android, so naturally there have been questions as to why the sudden departure.

According to some sources, Barra’s resignation came just before his romantic involvement with a certain Googler ended, but others see this as too much of a coincidence – with rumors flying around that his ex is now dating the recently split Google Co-founder Sergey Brin.

It’s quite unsettling how Android has lost so many of its key people in recent months.  First, Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, left Android for an unknown position in a different Google department, with his position being filled by Sundar Pichai who now leads both Chrome and Android.  And now, Barra’s departure leaves us to question what the future of Google’s mobile platform will look like.

Is Google thinking about doing away with Android and maybe merging it with Chrome OS? Or will Google make a product that fuses Android and Chrome OS into a more powerful platform that no longer has the fragmented problems of Android?