Xiaomi says it is working to bring Fortnite support to Qualcomm Snapdragon 675-powered Redmi Note 7 Pro

Days after Realme CEO Madhav Sheth bragged about how their upcoming Realme 3 Pro phone will be the first phone in its class to natively support Fortnite, Xiaomi India head Manu Kumar Jain has confirmed that their competing Redmi Note 7 Pro phone may support the game as well in the days to come. The Redmi Note 7 Pro does not natively support Fortnite yet, but this has got nothing to do with hardware constraints, according to Xiaomi.  

Epic Games’ popular Battle Royale game Fortnite is slightly different from other Android (or iOS) games. It’s a lot more popular on iOS and even on PC and consoles – it has only just arrived on Android. It arrived on Android as invite-only and only recently Epic Games rolled it out for a wider audience – also, you can’t download it from the Play Store. But unlike most Android games, Fortnite needs a per device certificate from Epic Games for support so it seems – which is why not every Android phone supports it. 

Even though Epic Games explicitly mentions that all smartphones with Qualcomm Adreno 530 or higher, ARM Mali-G71 MP20, ARM Mali-G72 MP12 or higher GPU (with 4GB RAM and Android 8.0 Oreo software) can play Fortnite, it is a little surprising that the Redmi Note 7 Pro with Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 (which has an Adreno 612 GPU, clubbed with up to 6GB RAM) can’t play it. Xiaomi says, this is because the Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 lacks the necessary certificate from Epic Games.     

And the reason why it lacks it is because apparently, it’s a new chipset – so new that Epic Games hasn’t had “an opportunity to test and thus, certify it.” 

“One thing to understand here is that since Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 is relatively a newer chipset and hasn’t been launched in the US (the main market for Fortnite), the makers of Fortnite (Epic Games) haven’t had an opportunity to test and thus, certify the Snapdragon 675. Some older chipsets, including the Snapdragon 710, have made it to Epic Games and thus been certified,” Xiaomi says in a blog post. 

But because “there is a group of Mi Fans that cares about Fortnite we are working with Qualcomm and Epic Games to get Redmi Note 7 Pro powered by Snapdragon 675 tested and certified for Fortnite.” 

If at all technical limitations have got nothing to do with the Redmi Note 7 Pro (looks like, they don’t), Xiaomi’s phone could support Fortnite soon – but we can’t say for sure when. 

Currently, Fortnite is playable on the following Xiaomi devices - Blackshark, Mi 5/5S/5S Plus, 6/6 Plus, Mi 8/8 Explorer/8SE, Mi Mix, Mi Mix 2, Mi Mix 2S and Mi Note 2. 

Also Read:  Xiaomi Redmi Note 7 Pro First Look: The Budget Flagship