When we first heard of the Xiaomi Mi 5C last year, we were surprised at the choice of SoC it was going to have. It was not going to use a Qualcomm chip or one from Mediatek, neither was it going to sport Huawei’s Kirin processor or Samsung’s Exynos. Though we would still be surprised if it had used any of the last two. The Mi 5C was going to have a chip built by Xiaomi called Pinecone.

Pinecone is the result of a partnership formed in 2014 between Xiaomi-controlled Beijing Electronics Co. Ltd. and Leadcore Technology Ltd., a subsidiary of Datang Telecom. The partnership led to the formation of Beijing Pinecone Electronics Co. Ltd, a chip manufacturing company with Xiaomi owning 51% of the stake and Leadcore owning the remaining 49%. The new pinecone chip is actually not their first. It is said that the Leadcore L1860C in the Xiaomi Redmi 2A is the first chip from the company.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C will be the first device to launch with the new processor. Reports say there are two versions of the processor: one will be made up of 8 Cortex-A53 chips and will have a performance equal to Mediatek’s Helio P10 while the other called ‘Pinecone 2’ will be made up of 4 Cortex A73 chips and 4 Cortex A53 chips.

READ MORE: Unofficial Version of Android 7.1.1 for Xiaomi Mi Note, Mi 4 and Mi Note Pro Spotted

Xiaomi has already opened an official Weibo account  and website for Pinecone but you won’t find much info on the latter. The news of Xiaomi having its own processor is said to have affected Huawei who used to be the only Chinese manufacturer with its own line of processors.

The Xiaomi Mi 5C is expected to launch this month with a 5.5-inch 1080p display, 3GB of RAM and a 64GB of built-in storage. In  addition to the octa-core processor clocked at 2.2GHz, it is expected to have either a 12MP or 13MP rear camera and an 8MP front shooter. Pricing details are currently unknown.

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Redmi 2A turned out to be one of the best selling smartphones from Xiaomi. We recently came to know that in the past few months, the company managed to ship over 10 million Redmi 2A units. Now, to celebrate the milestone, Xiaomi has cut down the price of the enhanced Redmi 2A version to just $78. That’s the same price as the regular version which usually retails for 499 Yuan ($78).

The biggest difference in the enhanced Redmi 2A version is the 2GB of RAM on board. Along with the increased RAM, the phone also upgrades the storage to 16GB. Lei Jun had earlier said that a smartphone needs at least 2GB RAM and 16GB storage for the best user experience, and this particular device will ensure that experience at just $78. In short, you get better RAM and storage for the same price as the regular version.

As for the other specs, the phone will feature a 4.7-inch 720p display with Leadcore LC1860 quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front facing shooter and 2,200mAh battery. The phone also supports 4G LTE networks and comes with a dual SIM card slot.

The Enhanced Redmi 2A Edition with 2GB RAM will go on sale from November 11 in China.

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Recently, a user in China reported to the press that his Redmi 2A caught fire while he was talking on the phone. Mr. Tang has reported the matter to Xiaomi and the staff is currently investigating the incident.

Mr. Tang reportedly bought the phone less than a month ago. According to Chinese media, he was talking with his wife on call, and in about five minutes, the sound started cracking. Then the phone’s body became too hot and he started to smell something burning. Fortunately, he realized that something was wrong with his phone and immediately threw it on the bathroom floor.

As you can see in the pictures below, the fire burnt most of the plastic body and internals of the device. You can even see the black burnt mark on the bathroom floor. After about two hours since the incident happened, he reported the matter to the Xiaomi after sales outlet.

It is still not known whether the phone will replaced by the company. Mr. Tang said that the after sales unit has sent the phone to Beijing for further processing.

Of course, we don’t think from the pictures above that Mr. Tang’s phone’s in any condition of repair and if the cause of fire is indeed something internal, then it will be interesting to see how Xiaomi responds to the matter.

Although Mr. Tang was lucky to escape without any injuries, Xiaomi should seriously consider whether such an incident is possible in the future in the Redmi 2A models that are already available in the market.

While most would start blaming the cheap quality of materials used on the handset, we first have to see whether the exact cause of the fire was something internal or not. Also, this is not the first time we are hearing about smartphones catching fire (both Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 have caught fires before). So, lets see how Xiaomi responds to the incident.

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Xiaomi unveiled the all new Redmi 2A, which is now the cheapest smartphone in the market from the company. However, there isn’t much price difference between the regular Redmi 2 and the Redmi 2A. The latter just costs 100 Yuan less than the Redmi 2, which is still a great achievement since the entry level model was super cheap to begin with.

So, today, we take a look at what you may have to sacrifice in the Redmi 2A as compared to the Redmi 2 which is 100 Yuan costlier. If you read our earlier post, you would know that Xiaomi is offering the 2A at just 499 Yuan on April 8th which is the day of the Xiaomi Rice festival.

Anyways, in this unboxing we take a look at what the Redmi 2A offers for its cheap price.

First of all, the box is exactly the same as the Redmi 2. So, you will find it extremely hard to distinguish between the two without taking at look at the model number information given at the back.

Once inside, you will realize that its again the same as Redmi. Even the charger is of 5V/ 1A. So, no major differences there.

Coming to the looks, the Redmi 2A and the Redmi 2 looks identical. You won’t be able to guess which one is which just by looking at them. So, it looks like despite the price difference, both the models use the same design, body and material.

So, in reality, both the models are very similar to each other. There are only a couple of major differences like the processor under the hood and the network connectivity features which justify the 100 Yuan that you have to shell out for the Redmi 2.

But even the Leadcore L180C quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz is quite capable as shown by the AnTuTu Benchmark test. Other specs are the same as the Redmi 2, so you get a 720p 5-inch display, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front shooter and 2200mAh battery. However, the 2A supports just three mode baseband instead of the five-mode on Redmi 2.

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Yesterday, the company had showed off a new teaser with the words AA on top. Looks like it was the teaser for the cheapest Xiaomi smartphone till date, the all new Xiaomi Redmi 2A.

The company revealed this new smartphone just a few minutes after it announced the Xiaomi Mi Note Ladies Edition. Just as predicted, the new Xiaomi Redmi 2A will be powered by the low cost Leadcore SoC. It will feature L1860C quad-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz along with Mali T628MP2 GPU.

There will be a 4.7-inch display sporting HD 720p resolution. As for camera, the phone will have an 8MP shooter at the back and a 2MP shooter up front. You also get a decent 2200mAh battery at the back with fast charge support. Despite its entry level placement, the Redmi 2A supports 4G LTE Dual SIM Dual Standby.

As you can see, the Redmi 2A turns out to be one of the best smartphones in this price range. The phone will be available for sale for 599 Yuan. However, as a part of the Xiaomi festival, the Redmi 2A will be sold for just 499 Yuan on April 8.

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