Update: Xiaomi’s saying the video is fake. You can read about its investigation in our follow-up report here.
A Bengaluru man was caught unawares recently when his Redmi Note 4 exploded into flames right in the middle of shop. The entire incident was captured on what appears to be a store’s CCTV camera.
According to a bill shared with TechCase, the Redmi Note 4 in question was bought in June 2017 via Poorvika. The explosion apparently occurred on July 17 when the owner, Arjun, headed to a local shop to insert a SIM card. As can be seen in the video, he hands over the smartphone to an employee. The handset explodes just seconds after this, emitting smoke and fire.
The shop boy then tries to stamp out the flames with his shoes. The fire eventually dies down, leaving only a severely damaged and blackened Redmi Note 4. No injuries have been reported yet. Arjun claims he submitted the phone to a Xiaomi India service center and hasn’t received any kind of response from the brand yet.
https://youtu.be/7KrbomSF_WE
He’s also gone ahead and filed an FIR with the Bellandur police station in Bengaluru, a copy of which was obtained by Phone Radar. There’s no mention of whether he was using a third-party adapter or cable for charging his Redmi Note 4, nor whether he had removed or swapped out the original battery in the month since he bought it.
Also Read: Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 images, specs, price leaked
Lithium-ion batteries have a tendency to explode, with the most famous example being that of the Galaxy Note 7. Unlike that case, this appears to be an isolated event. The Redmi Note 4 isn’t the first Xiaomi phone to get engulfed in flames, with a Mi 4i also sharing the same fate in an incident which took place about a year ago in India.