Xiaomi Inc. is allegedly covering up a recent incident where a Redmi Note 3 caught fire while charging, months after Samsung's exploding Note 7 units and Apple's erratic iPhone batteries made headlines.
According to China Daily, citing an initial report by the Beijing Morning Post, a Chinese Redmi Note 3 owner reported that her handset ignited while plugged into the socket. She notified Xiaomi of the incident, prompting the tech giant to issue a refund plus an extra 600 yuan in compensation, per China Daily.
Xiaomi, however, required the owner to sign a waiver, disallowing her from divulging any information about the incident. Xiaomi has still not issued any official statement since the issue was leaked.
"Xiaomi should use the most transparent way to reveal details of the incident and the reason why the Redmi smartphone caught fire," Nicole Peng, research director at Canalys, told China Daily in an interview.
Some experts are also saying that the confidentiality letter was unenforceable. "If the fire was caused by the phone, it is a quality defect which poses great risks to consumers' personal safety and property rights. Then the manufacturer should bear civil liability and compensate the consumer accordingly," Wang Wenhua, deputy dean of the Law School at Beijing Foreign Studies University, was quoted as saying by China Daily.
"Now lots of smartphone makers are enhancing the capabilities of smartphone batteries, such as improvements to battery life, which may cause more safety problems than before. This incident should serve as a warning. Manufacturers should not be too keen to upgrade smartphone batteries before rigorous lab tests have taken place, and they should pay more attention to the quality of their products," Wang added.
This is not the first time that Xiaomi was haunted by issues about exploding smartphones. In July 2016, a CCTV footage of a Xiaomi Mi4i catching fire while charging made rounds online.
In response, Xiaomi immediately replaced the erratic unit and proceeded to investigate. "We take such matters seriously and we have already been investigating the matter. We have been in touch with the customer and will be getting his device this week to do further investigation. In the meantime, we have offered a replacement phone to the customer," a Xiaomi representative said in an interview with Tech PP.