New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Xiaomi’s Redmi series redefined the budget Android smartphone category. Now an independent brand and subsidiary of Xiaomi, Redmi phones successfully achieved their self-imposed target to “make smartphones that offer extreme value for money”.

redmi_independent_brand

Traditionally the Redmi series of devices get one major Android version upgrade. The tradition should be broken with 2018’s Redmi Note 5 Pro (codename: whyred).

While Redmi Note 5 Pro initially launched in India with MIUI 9 based on Android 7.1.2 Nougat, it got Oreo update after few months. It is also known that Xiaomi is testing Android 9 Pie on it, which will make it the first Redmi phone to get 2 major Android version upgrades.

redmi_note_5_pro_front_back
Redmi Note 5 Pro

Interestingly, the lower tier Redmi phones are struggling to get even one stable upgrade. The prime example is Redmi 5A – which was one of the top selling Android smartphones of 2018.

redmi_5a_highest selling_2018

2017’s Redmi 5A was the successor to Redmi 4A. The budget oriented phone stormed the market and sold like hotcakes. It came with Android Nougat wrapped with MIUI 9 skin.

In one of our previous articles, we discussed about delays about the stable Oreo upgrade for this budget beauty. After a limited beta release in December, Redmi 5A has started to get MIUI 10 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo during the second week of February.

Immediately after global release, users have started to complain about numerous bugs, especially broken VoLTE.

Similar reports can also be found on Xiaomi’s official forums. For example, the dedicated threads for discussing this build is full of these posts:

i have volte after oreo update volte is not working

(Source)

 

Later on, people reported that they could not see the update prompt and/or access the changelog anymore.

redmi_5a_oreo_no_update

redmi_5a_oreo_no changelog

With the help of Xiaomi Firmware Updater, we have verified that the Xiaomi now marks the previous Nougat based MIUI V10.1.1.0.NCKMIFI as the stable update. Both the recovery and fastboot package is now pointing to Nougat build instead of Oreo.

Forum moderators removed the links of Oreo based V10.1.2.0.OCKMIFI build from the original announcement thread.

redmi_5a_oreo_pulled_back

Developer yshalsager has also confirmed that the Oreo update for Redmi 5A has been pulled back by Xiaomi. The links we published earlier are still online, but we don’t recommend to manually flash or upgrade using them.

10.1.2.0 was firstly pushed to Public, but later they’ve Suspended/Taken it down. Stay tuned to Forum for further announcements.

(Source)

For the users who already upgraded, it is better to downgrade to the previous Stable build for better compatibility. If the bootloader is unlocked, then you can flash back using MiFlash or restore a previous backup using a custom recovery.

miflash

Users having locked bootloader may face issues, as there is no official way to downgrade in that situation.

The direct links of the current Nougat based stable build are given below for the sake of convenience:

  • Channel: Global Stable
  • Version: V10.1.1.0.NCKMIFI
  • Android: 7.1
    • Type: Fastboot
      • Download: Link
      • MD5: f444c158ed47b22f0a2611c50779dfcd
    • Type: Recovery
      • Download: Link
      • MD5: 8cb19207b7638abf509d513fcc64e060

Xiaomi has not released any official statement about the suspension so far.

redmi_5a_front_back
Redmi 5A

Did you get the Oreo update on your Redmi 5A? Let us know your experience with it by commenting below.

Update (July 18)

After a botched up OTA rollout, Xiaomi is finally bringing Android Oreo update for both Redmi 5A & Redmi 5 in the form of MIUI 10.3.2.0 OTA. Read on.

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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.

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