Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 catching fire on viral video: What really happened here?

A website called TechCase put out CCTV footage along with photos of a burnt Redmi Note 4. The footage was shared by PhoneRadar on their YouTube channel and it went viral from there. The footage has not been verified so far by any news media outlet. However, even though the video went viral one can’t actually see the phone in the video that caught fire. Given this is CCTV footage from a store, it’s hard to make out which phone is on fire. However, TechCase also shared photos of a Redmi Note 4 smartphone that was burnt along with bill showing the store from which the phone was purchased.

In a statement today, Xiaomi’s Manu Kumar Jain has said the video is from a random WhatsApp group, and has nothing to do with the actual Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 case.

So did a Redmi Note 4 smartphone catch fire? 

Xiaomi has acknowledged that a Redmi Note 4 did catch fire in Bengaluru. The customer named Arjun, surname not given, had apparently bought the phone from Poorvika Mobiles on July 1. The phone got damaged on July 17, according to the company’s statement. Xiaomi claims they exchanged the phone, even thought the damage was caused due to a faulty third-party charger used by the customers.

The statement claims the phone was exchanged on July 24, as a gesture of goodwill by the company, even though the damage was caused because of the faulty charger. The statement adds Xiaomi users should stick with using the original chargers, accessories from the company in order to avoid any damage to their products.

Jain’s statement reads, “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 authorised chargers and accessories.” 

So what happens with that footage?

Xiaomi claims the video is not from Poorvika store, but from a retailer in Anamangad, Kerala. If you look at the video, there’s no way of confirming which device catches on fire. Also the customer in the video is not Arjun. The statement adds that the consumer “has confirmed to Xiaomi that the people in the video does not include or represent him or any of his relatives.”

However Xiaomi says finds the way the incident was reported by the blog TechCase as “irresponsible and disturbing,” and adds that they are “currently evaluating legal action against this publication.”

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