Xiaomi says Redmi Note 4 blast video was fake

Xiaomi was in the news headlines for the past few days. In a video circulated on social media claimed that a user’s brand new Redmi Note 4 smartphone exploded and caught fire. But now, Xiaomi India has confirmed that it is a fake video and that is not a Xiaomi device.

At the same time, a Xiaomi customer named Arjun did suffer from fire damage in Bangaluru while using his new Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 smartphone. According to Xiaomi officials, it was caused by a bad treatment by the user. They say that the user tried a third party charger for charging up the Redmi Note 4 and it got fired up. Also, Xiaomi says it is a genuine case and they provided a replacement unit for that.

In a press release, Xiaomi India states: ”  “He [The customer] had purchased a Redmi Note 4 from a Poorvika store in Bangalore on 1st June 2017. His phone was damaged at his home on 17th July 2017, following which he took the phone to the aforementioned Poorvika store on the same day. As soon as we were alerted to this incident, we took the device back. The damage was caused due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer” and “there were signs of physical damage on the phone as well”. Despite this, the company says, it “replaced the customer’s damaged unit with a brand new Redmi Note 4 on Monday, 24th July 2017.”

At the same time, a technology blog posted a fake video which claims that the Redmi Note 4 smartphone explodes. And they combined the pic shared by Mr. Arjun and cooked up a story against the smartphone model. So, Xiaomi said that they are moving legally against that publication.

Official statement from Xiaomi:

At Xiaomi, customer safety is of utmost importance to us.

Recently, a video has been shared across a few news publications claiming that a Redmi Note 4 unit experienced an explosive scenario. We would like to state that this video has no relation to the concerned Redmi Note 4.

After an internal investigation, we found that the only recent incident of a burnt Redmi Note 4 stemmed from a Bangalore based customer – Arjun. He had purchased a Redmi Note 4 from a Poorvika store in Bangalore on 1st June 2017. His phone was damaged at his home on 17th July 2017, following which he took the phone to the aforementioned Poorvika store on the same day.

As soon as we were alerted to this incident, we took the device back. After a thorough technical investigation, we found out that the damage was caused due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customer. In addition, there were signs of physical damage on the phone as well.

Despite the customer-induced damage, 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 on Monday, 24th July 2017. We advise our customers to only use Xiaomi authorized chargers and accessories.

Regarding the video being circulated, we would like to clarify the following points:

(1) The video was attained from a random WhatsApp group, and has nothing to do with this recent Redmi Note 4 case.

(2) In fact, there is no evidence in the video to suggest that the device is a Redmi Note 4 or any other Xiaomi phone.

(3) The video is not from the aforementioned Poorvika store, or any other Poorvika store. On further investigation, we found that the CCTV video was from a retailer in Anamangad, Kerala. Xiaomi India only started selling devices at 3G and Fone 4 stores a few weeks ago in Kerala.

(4) The CCTV video was recorded on a different date, not 1st June (when Arjun bought the phone) or 17th July (when his phone got damaged).

(5) The customer in the video is not Arjun. He has confirmed to Xiaomi that the people in the video does not include or represent him or any of his relatives.

It is unfortunate that a member of the technology blogging fraternity used a video of an unrelated incident attained from a WhatsApp group, and merged it with the above-mentioned case involving Arjun, without doing any investigation. We find this behaviour very irresponsible and disturbing. We are currently evaluating legal action against this publication.

To all our Mi Fans, we would like to re-emphasize that safety is of utmost importance to us! All of our devices go through stringent quality tests to ensure that you get the best quality. We will once again encourage everyone to only use Xiaomi authorized chargers and accessories.