You may think that Xiaomi has learned its lesson when it comes to Android updates, as the manufacturer has long struggled with defective releases that affect phones left and right. But it doesn’t seem to be the case. During the holidays, the company tried to launch Android 11 for the Xiaomi Mi A3 running Android One, and the owners reported on Reddit and the company’s own forum that it creates its phones.
The problem seems to affect many people who tried to upgrade their Mi A3 to Android 11. It appears that many phones are completely locked, meaning that they can no longer be connected properly and are stuck on the startup screen. Some owners even report that they do not reach the startup screen and are unable to access fastboot, which usually helps to reset the phones.
Xiaomi is advising affected people to visit service centers, which is not really a sensible solution in the midst of a pandemic – not to mention people who don’t have a Xiaomi store nearby. The data saved on the phones may be lost (partially), although we do not know if the service centers can recover some or all of them.
A spokesman for Xiaomi India provided the following statement:
We are aware of the problem on some Mi A3 devices after a recent update from Android 11. We have since stopped the release.
We ask users who have this problem to visit any of the more than 2,000 service centers across the country closest to you, where a solution will be provided free of charge unconditionally (under warranty or under warranty).
We are sorry for the inconvenience this has caused. As a brand committed to providing the best possible user experience, we will continuously improve our products and services.
This is not the first time Xiaomi has asked Mi A3 owners to question their purchase – the Android 10 update has been repeatedly pushed and pulled out until the company finally managed to release the appropriate stable software. We hope that Xiaomi can fix the problems without further delay this time. Once this inevitable new release is released, we can only advise you not to press the update button until you hear how it applies to other more courageous souls.
