A brand-new REDMI smartphone has officially appeared in multiple certification and IMEI databases, and it may be one of Xiaomi’s most mysterious devices of 2026 so far. The device carries the market name M516AE, but Xiaomi has not revealed any official branding, specifications, or product series yet.
What makes this discovery particularly interesting is that XimiTime originally discovered this unknown REDMI device back in March 2026, months before any public certification appeared.
New REDMI 5G smartphone certified
The device first appeared in China’s CMIIT certification database with the following details:
- CMIIT ID: 2026-10075
- Model Number: 26C1166MP009
- Market Name: M516AE
- Network Support: GSM / WCDMA / TD-LTE / LTE FDD / 5G
- Connectivity: WLAN (WAPI), Bluetooth
This confirms the device is a full-featured modern REDMI 5G smartphone intended for the Chinese market.
IMEI database reveals unusual details
After the original certification, the smartphone later surfaced inside IMEI databases under the REDMI brand. However, the discovery became even more unusual because the same REDMI device appeared with two separate TAC registrations.
First TAC registration
- Manufacturer: Xiaomi Communications Co Ltd
- Brand: REDMI
- Market Name: M516AE
Second TAC registration
- Manufacturer: Beijing Xiaomi Electronics Co Ltd
- Brand: REDMI
- Market Name: M516AE
Both GSMA registrations appeared first on March 25, 2026.
This is not typical for Xiaomi smartphones and may indicate Xiaomi is changing its internal certification, manufacturing, or regional deployment structure.
Xiaomi may be changing its model numbering system
The certified identifier:
- 26C1166MP009
looks very different from Xiaomi’s traditional smartphone model naming formats.
Normally, Xiaomi devices follow recognizable regional suffixes such as:
- G = Global
- I = India
- C = China
However, this new structure appears significantly more experimental. The “M” inside the internal name M516AE may potentially stand for “Mobile,” although this has not been officially confirmed.
At the moment, the device’s exact identity remains completely unknown. Unlike many Xiaomi certifications, this one revealed almost no hardware information beyond connectivity support.
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