[Pie via stable channel] Redmi 6 & 6A June security patch rolling out, no Android Pie update yet (Download links inside)

New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

The entry level smartphone market in India is fiercely dominated by Xiaomi. The Redmi lineup (now an independent brand), especially phones from the elementary ‘A’ series are widely popular among the entry level Android users.

While these phones are usually powered by low-end Qualcomm Snapdragon platforms, 2018’s Redmi 6A and Redmi 6 were exceptions. The Chinese OEM opted for 12 nm Mediatek Helio series chipsets – Helio A22 (MT6761) and Helio P22 (MT6762) – respectively.

Xiaomi entirely skipped the fingerprint sensor on the cheaper Redmi 6A, while the Redmi 6 got a rear mounted scanner. The latter also blessed with two (12 MP + 5 MP) rear cameras, while the former got a single 13 MP sensor.

Moving to the software part, both phones were initially launched with MIUI 9 on top of Android 8.1 Oreo. They got MIUI 10 OTA a few months later, but the underlying Android version remained unchanged. However, the Android Pie update has been officially confirmed.

The OEM has started a beta tester recruitment initiative regarding Android Q update for Poco F1, but Redmi 6 and 6A’s Pie update are also part of the same manoeuvre. In fact, an early alpha build of Pie was leaked for the phone duo.

Looks like Xiaomi is silently rolling out a new set of updates for both Redmi 6/6A with the version number of MIUI 10.3.4.0. Besides the regular bug fixes in the 10.3.4 branch, both phones have got June 2019 security patches.

The download links of the full packages can be found below; credit goes to yshalsager and the Xiaomi Firmware Updater project for tracking the OTA update URLs.

• Device: Redmi 6A
• Codename: cactus
• Channel: Global Stable
• Version: V10.3.4.0.OCBMIXM
• Android: 8.1
  • Type: Recovery
    • Download: Link
    • MD5: 7cfaedde660589eb2d9ec6b77758aaf7

• Device: Redmi 6
• Codename: cereus
• Channel: Global Stable
• Version: V10.3.4.0.OCGMIXM
• Android: 8.1
  • Type: Recovery
    • Download: Link
    • MD5: a2fe89ff0fe1dba11195128c84e8aebe

Due to the limited rollout, users may face some warnings (as shown below) while manually flashing the beta. Bypassing such restrictions is not impossible, but the process is beyond the scope of this article.

When do you think Android Pie will be released for Redmi 6/6A? Comment below.

Update 1 (July 6)

Xiaomi is pushing Android 9.0 Pie based update for Redmi 6/6A via MIUI public beta channel in China. The builds come with July security patch & dark mode. For further details, see here.

Update 2 (August 1)

The entry level Redmi 6A now gets stable Android Pie update in China. Take a look here for more info.

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