Xiaomi has become the biggest smartphone company in India as well as third in the world on the back of impressive mid-range phones. Today the company sells around 200 million smartphones in the world, a good chunk of which are from India and China. The company has targeted the mid-range premium market and has totally overshadowed the likes of Samsung in it.
Much of its success has come from launching a huge number of similarly priced and similarly specced phones in this category. One such phone is Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge which is a rebranded Redmi Note 11 pro from China. The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is a great phone with a great screen, battery, speakers and haptics. If you want to have a mid-range phone that does all the basics right, this is the phone for you.
It is slightly let down by the camera but is a very good all-around phone. Xiaomi launched this phone as a premium mid-range offering in India.
Will Xiaomi 11i get Android 12 based on MIUI 13?
Since the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is a premium mid-range phone it was expected to get the MIUI 13 at the earliest. Xiaomi however has totally disappointed its user, by excluding it from the list of devices. Below is the list of devices that would get Android 12 based MIUI 13 in India.
- Xiaomi Mi 11
- Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
- Xiaomi Mi 11i
- Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro
- Xiaomi Mi 11X
- Xiaomi Pad 5
- Xiaomi Redmi 10
- Xiaomi Redmi 10 Prime
- Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
- Xiaomi 11 Lite NE
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 8 (2021)
- Xiaomi 11T Pro
- Xiaomi 11T
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro Max
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10
- Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
- Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite
- Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 JE
Some of the devices like Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G have even started to get MIUI 13 updates. It can be clearly seen that the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge has been given a miss despite being one of the latest devices from Xiaomi. While this is disappointing for Xiaomi 11i users, all is not lost.
Being one of their high-end products, Xiaomi would certainly update it to the Android 12. Uncertainty around it however is certainly disappointing and would make its users wary of this when upgrading next time.
When will Xiaomi 11i get the Android 12 based MIUI 13?
Xiaomi 11i has not been included in the first batch of their phones for the Android 12 update. Still, there is hope that it will get updated in the second batch somewhere around April/ May 2022.
There is still hope for the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge to get the MIUI 13 update, as the Chinese Redmi Note 11 Pro is the same as this phone and that would certainly be updated to Android 12 as it sold in great numbers. Xiaomi would not want to upset their loyal Redmi Note Customer.
Why is Xiaomi 11i not getting Android 12 update?
The main reason for the delayed update of Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge seems to be the chipset used in it. The Xiaomi 11i comes with the newly launched MediaTek Dimensity 920. As all the other Xiaomi phones come with Snapdragon processors (at least in India), it is easier for them to test and push updates for them. The Dimensity 920 being a new chip requires extensive testing and development for the MIUI 13 so it does not brick the phone.
Remember the MI A3 update fiasco last year? For those who aren’t aware of what happened with Xiaomi A3, let me refresh your memory. The Xiaomi A3 is an Android One phone which was launched in 2019. In January 2021, it was updated to Android 11 and that bricked many MI A3 devices all over the world.
Xiaomi had to fix all those phones for FREE!
Not just the Mi A3 but phones like Asus Zenfone Max Pro M2 as well as the flagship, Asus ROG 5 have been bricked due to Android updates. All of the affected phones had to be fixed for free. This is probably why Xiaomi does not want to hurry into making an error-prone Android 12 update for the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge.
So while there is uncertainty around the Android update for Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, I would advise you to wait for a few days and see where things go. If however, Xiaomi is unable to provide MIUI 13 update to the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, you should certainly go with Realme phones in the future since they are better at providing updates for their phones than Xiaomi in this price category.
Updated April 2022– The Indian Redmi Note 10 Pro has received the MIUI 13 update but the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is yet to receive the new update. At this point, it looks like a bad purchase given the fact that Android 13 will be announced on May 11 in Google I/O. To not get a two-year-old Android update on the latest phone is very worrisome and that is why people flock toward Samsung.
If you’re looking for an Android phone that gets timely android updates then Samsung is your best bet. Even Realme has improved a lot in this field.
The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge was supposed to be a premium product from Xiaomi and customers rightfully thought it would be the first to get MIUI 13 update based on Android 12. That is however not the case. With no announcement from Xiaomi, it could be months before the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge gets the MIUI 13 update in India.
