Xiaomi’s Android One phones are usually based on similar phones running MIUI. Mi A1 (codename: tissot) is modeled after Mi 5X (codename: tiffany). Similarly Mi A2 (codename: jasmine) is nothing but Mi 6X (codename: wayne) running Google’s version of Android.

mi_a2_lite
Mi A2 Lite

While Xiaomi releases Android One phones to various international markets, the corresponding MIUI variants are strictly restricted to China. This tradition changes with Mi A2 Lite (codename: daisy), which is based on Redmi 6 Pro (codename: sakura). Both of them are globally released, though target markets are slightly different.

By the virtue of Android One program, these ‘A’ series phones got upgrade to Android Pie rather quickly compared to their MIUI counterparts. Yes, you may get your phone bricked by the flood of updates, but that’s another story.

redmi_6_pro_front
Redmi 6 Pro

Redmi 6 Pro entered market with factory installed MIUI 9 based on Android 8.1 Oreo. After subsequent update to MIUI 10 (which was again based on Oreo), Xiaomi announced Android Pie beta testing for it along with few more devices. The internal beta estimated to rollout within the first quarter of 2019.

Thanks to Xiaomi Firmware Updater, we can ensure that the first Pie beta for Redmi 6 Pro is live now! Due to the norm of Xiaomi’s update policy, this update belongs to China Beta branch. You may need to wait for weeks/months to get it via Global Beta branch.

  • Device: Redmi 6 Pro
  • Channel: China Beta (Closed)
  • Version: 9.1.26
  • Android: 9.0
  • Type: Recovery
  • Download: Link
  • MD5: ad95ac434987e21b753017f454e3a885

Flashaholics, beware! The initial beta builds are usually extremely buggy, so PiunikaWeb advises you not to flash this build on your daily driver. If you’re confident enough, have a spare phone, then welcome to the world of beta!

Redmi 6 Pro does contain Xiaomi’s implementation of ARB (Anti-Rollback Protection). So make sure you have researched on the ‘features’ of ARB and the consequences.

xiaomi.eu_device_list
Xiaomi devices with ARB (Image source: xiaomi.eu)

For Indian/global users, you should also go through this announcement which clearly states the blockage on cross-region firmware flashing. A detailed explanation of the issue can be found here.

Think it of as a by-product of ARB – and thus readers are always suggested to unlock the bootloader of their devices before tinkering with it.

We previously discovered that Xiaomi might entirely skip the ‘Private DNS’ feature of Android Pie in their MIUI skin. We can’t speculate the same for this case as we don’t have a Redmi 6 Pro in hand. Readers are requested to provide feedback on this matter.

Are you planning to test some ‘Pie’ on your Redmi 6 Pro?

PiunikaWeb is a unique initiative that mainly focuses on investigative journalism. This means we do a lot of hard work to come up with news stories that are either ‘exclusive,’ ‘breaking,’ or ‘curated’ in nature. Perhaps that’s the reason our work has been picked by the likes of Forbes, Foxnews, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, Macrumors, and more. Do take a tour of our website to get a feel of our work. And if you like what we do, stay connected with us on Twitter (@PiunikaWeb) and other social media channels to receive timely updates on stories we publish.

Tags

Kingshuk De
896 Posts

I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.

Next article View Article

[April 10: Official acknowledgement for recommended videos bug] YouTube Library tab broken and sidebar missing, users say

This story is being continuously updated…. New updates are being added at the bottom….. Original story (from 2019) follows: Incoming are reports related to two separate YouTube-related issues. The...
Apr 10, 2020 0 Min Read