Indian Redmi Note 5 (Redmi 5 Plus) not getting updates since November

The Redmi Note lineup made Xiaomi the mid-ranger king. With the introduction of Redmi Note 3 (known as Redmi Note 3 Pro globally) back in 2016, the Chinese OEM redefined the sub-$200 category.

Balancing between the budget oriented Redmi series and the premium class Mi lineup, the Redmi Note phones quickly became fan-favorite. In India, Xiaomi was able to swipe away local OEMs as well as big names like Motorola and established a monopoly in the sub-₹15,000 market segment.

2017’s Redmi Note 4 was again a massive hit. Xiaomi wanted to continue the same legacy in subsequent year, but they had to pack more goodies to compete with newer rivals like Asus and Realme.

The management took an effective decision to tackle the scenario. The Chinese giant released two models in India to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the Redmi Note lineup. Redmi 5 Plus (codename: vince), which was released earlier in China, was rebranded and launched in India as Redmi Note 5.

On the other hand, they released another model with slightly better configs under the name of Redmi Note 5 Pro (codename: whyred). The ‘Pro’ moniker was helpful to distinguish the upgraded specs.

TBH, Xiaomi’s naming convention is utmost complicated. The same model was launched in China as Redmi Note 5, whereas they marketed it to the global audience as Redmi Note 5 AI Dual Camera.

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” ?

Xiaomi decided to use old-but-efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC with the Redmi Note 5/Redmi 5 Plus, and included a single rear camera to cut the corners. Unlike the Pro variant, it did not support any fast charging mechanism, thus limited to typical 5V/2A (10W) charging.

Although the phones were launched in February 2018, Xiaomi packed Android 7.1 Nougat based MIUI 9 with them. Oreo was released almost 6 months ago, so the decision did not make any sense.

Redmi Note 5 Pro, however, was treated with some extra cares. The phone was quickly upgraded to Android 8.1 Oreo via MIUI 9.5 which unlocked out of the box Project Treble support.

Not limited to that, Xiaomi even included it in their official Android 9 Pie beta testing. This move marked the Redmi Note 5 Pro as the first ever Redmi Note phone to get 2 major Android version update officially.

Redmi Note 5/Redmi 5 Plus, on the other hand, got Oreo OTA much later. The OEM rolled out Android Oreo via MIUI 9.6.5.0 in late August and subsequently delivered stable MIUI 10 at the end of September 2018.

Since then, the phone got just one more incremental update in November, which bumped the build number from V10.0.2.0.OEGMIFH to V10.0.4.0.OEGMIFH. The users of this phone are stuck with with older versions of MIUI for some unknown reasons.

https://twitter.com/sheikriyaz55/status/1102792424718458880

Not only end users, but also the moderators for the device specific sub-forums are completely clueless.

Hello Dear,

There is some error in global rom that’s why it is suspended since weeks. Hope update will be resume soon, stay tuned on forum.

Regards

(Source)

The global beta release channel has also been dried up since November 2018.

Interestingly, the same phone is getting constant updates in China (marketed as Redmi 5 Plus in there). Besides regular beta updates, it has recently got MIUI V10.2.4.0.OEGCNXM via stable channel.

Flashing China firmware or aftermarket custom ROMs may not a feasible for regular users. Besides, providing updates to an identical model should not be a cumbersome process.

For the sake of transparency, Xiaomi should release an official statement regarding the delay and clarify the situation.

Do you have a Redmi Note 5 (or Redmi 5 Plus)? Frustrated because of the lack of updates? Comment below.

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