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Indian buyers angry that Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro sold out in seconds

In a flash sale, Xiaomi claims to have sold out of the Redmi Note 5 Pro in minutes. However, buyers are claiming that Xiaomi is not being totally truthful.
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Published onFebruary 22, 2018

TL;DR
  • Xiaomi is celebrating selling out of the Redmi Note 5 Pro in minutes, claiming it as the biggest sale ever in the history of India.
  • Buyers are claiming the Flipkart website crashed within seconds of the sale going live, accusing Xiaomi of stacking the deck.
  • A new flash sale will go live next week, in the middle of MWC 2018.

Normally, when a phone sells incredibly fast, it’s a cause for celebration. But Indian buyers are angry that the Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 Pro sold out in seconds during its first flash sale.

The Indian Redmi Twitter account made a big to-do over the whole event, posting the image below. Touting the sell-out as “the biggest sale ever in the history of India,” Xiaomi is apparently trying to drum up publicity for its highly-anticipated smartphone.

redmi note 5 pro flash sale

Twitter users are not so easy to win over and many have taken issue with the “< 3 mins” claim, as they report the Flipkart site crashing within seconds of the sale going live (though the sales count also included purchases made on Mi.com). It’s not impossible that over 300,000 people bought the smartphone in only a few seconds, but it is a little unlikely.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 and Redmi Note 5 Pro specs
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bad camera phone

In a somewhat suspicious coincidence, Xiaomi also sold out of the Mi TV 4 in only a few seconds during a very similar flash sale. Xiaomi did not claim how many were sold at that time — it could have been 10 televisions or 100,000 (likely the former).

Xiaomi promises new flash sales for the Redmi Note 5 Pro on February 28 and the Mi TV 4 on February 27, which are both right in the middle of Mobile World Congress 2018. It’s possible these first flash sales were just dummy runs to build up anticipation for the next flash sales, which just happen to be during the most significant mobile conference in the world. Some users have already jumped ship to other smartphones, which could mean Xiaomi’s plan is backfiring:

I know atleast 10 people who today ordered #honor7x after realising that this flash sale is a joke
— அரங்கன் (@arangan108) February 22, 2018
The Redmi Note 5 Pro is a 6-inch, 18:9 smartphone with a Full HD+ resolution of 2,160 x 1,080. Inside, it’s running a Snapdragon 636, 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of storage. The whole thing is powered by a massive 4,000 mAh battery and goes for 13,999 rupees ($215). There’s also an upgraded version with 6 GB of RAM that costs 16,999 rupees ($261).

Correction: A previous version of this article stated that the “3,00,000” figure was unclear. As pointed out in the comments, this is how 300,000 is written in India. We’ve also made it clearer that the number was taken from sales on both Flipkart and Mi.com. We apologize for the confusion.

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