Updated at July 24, 2017:
Xiaomi in a statement to BGR said “At Xiaomi, customer safety is of utmost importance to us. We investigated the Redmi Note 4 in the images and concluded that it was a case of damage due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer. Nonetheless, we worked with the Poorvika store where the unit was bought and replaced the customer’s damaged unit with a brand new Redmi Note 4.”
About the authenticity of the video, the company said “However, after a thorough investigation, we cannot validate the source of this video, as it has no relation to this case, and was not from the Poorvika store. In fact, it is unclear if this separate and unrelated incident depicted in the video involved a Xiaomi device.”
Updated at July 25, 2017:
Today, Xiaomi India has released a press statement clarifying the incident. The company also stated that the video being circulated as Redmi Note 4 catching fire is a fake one and it’s an entirely different incident where no Xiaomi smartphones are involved.
Our statement on the recent inaccurate reporting related to Redmi Note 4 – India’s No. 1 selling smartphone. pic.twitter.com/j7RmSRQhVV
— Xiaomi India (@XiaomiIndia) July 25, 2017
Our original story from Tuesday, July 25, 2017, follows:
Just as Samsung put out their Note 7 fire, Xiaomi’s Redmi Note 4 went ablaze. Yes, you heard it correct. Xiaomi also makes phones that can burst into flames. The incident aiding the statement happened in a mobile phone outlet, Bengaluru. So how exactly has this happened? we have no clue, but some footage being circulated as evidence. In the past, Redmi phones were reportedly behind a few such incidents, but this was caught live on the shop’s CCTV.
The Incident
As per the footage dated 3rd, July 2017 [youtube.com], the phone owner Mr. Arjun hands over his recently purchased Redmi Note 4 to the shop boy. You can see, the shop boy trying to eject the SIM tray and the phone bursting into flames in his hand. Thankfully, he was not injured. He had to drop the phone and step on it to put out the fire, in order to prevent any further damage to the shop or himself. According to the phone owner Mr. Arjun, the device was purchased from Xiaomi’s offline partner Poorvika, Banglore on the 1st of June 2017. He has been facing issues with the phone, and on 17th July 2017 visited a local outlet, where it burst. Do note that the footage may not be related, as we noticed some date mismatch with the owner’s statement.
Verdict
Clearly, this incident proves that the quality control tests or safety measures aren’t up to the mark. The run for a larger battery and quick charge technology by manufacturers is evidently putting the end user’s life at risk. Other possible causes of such explosions are the usage of an unbranded charger and water damage. Modern day smartphones do heat up on charging and usage, in some cases up to alarming levels. So a typical user will ignore an abnormal heat up which might be a sign of fire or blast.
So in the end what we have to say is, these issues won’t stir-up until some hot-headed celebrity gets injured. However, the aforementioned owner of Redmi Note 4 soon got a free replacement from Xiaomi as the incident was reported by notable blogs and social media. Please note that this article is solely on the evidence by Tech Case we intend no defamation. Hope you enjoyed the write-up, be safe, Peace!