Opinion | Mi Mix 3 5G owners take up arms in response to Android 10 and MIUI 11 snub

The Mi Mix 3 5G was released in early 2019 as Xiaomi's first 5G phone, a refresh of the regular Mi Mix 3 with regular internals. While one would expect the phone to receive premium treatment due to its premium specs and positioning, that doesn't seem to be the case, as Xiaomi has mostly ignored the phone.

The regular Mi Mix 3 has since received the Android 10 update, but the Mi Mix 3 5G inexplicably remains on Android Pie, the version of Android it launched with. Even worse is the fact that the phone remains on MIUI 10, while Xiaomi's other phones are on MIUI 11 already. Owners of the phone aren't taken that lightly, though, and have now created a petition requesting Xiaomi to provide their phones with the software updates they deserve.

The petition is titled "Upgrade MI MIX 3 5G flagship to MIUI 11" and already has over a thousand signatures on it. 

The effectiveness of change.org petitions varies, especially in matters relating to software updates. Huawei famously promised to deliver the EMUI 10 update to the Huawei Y9 (2019) after a petition went viral months ago. On the other hand, the petition for the Xperia XZ1 phones doesn't seem to have changed anything.

We'll be pleasantly surprised if this petition changes anything for the Mi Mix 3 5G, as the phone appears to have been abandoned by Xiaomi; perhaps due to poor sales? It's easy to understand from the perspective of the company, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a kick to the shin of those who did buy the phone.

This isn't the first time Xiaomi has randomly abandoned a device either, as owners of the Redmi 4 Prime and Redmi Pro can attest to.

We'll be sure to keep you updated on this.