The latest twist in the Xiaomi-Meizu phones selling in the US via US Mobile is something we already saw coming. But at the same time, people hopeful of buying Xiaomi and Meizu phones in the country will be left gutted.
In an official statement, Xiaomi have divulged that US Mobile is NOT authorised to offer their phones in the US market.
US Mobile NOT an official Xiaomi reseller
Here’s what Xiaomi had to say:
Recent reports indicated that Xiaomi products will be available in the U.S. There are no plans to sell smartphones through any authorised distributors in the US. U.S. Mobile is not authorised to sell Xiaomi products in the U.S.
Gizchina News of the week
As GizChina reported recently, all of US Mobiles stock isn’t really domestic, but shipped from a China/HK warehouse. The offerings include the mildly successful Redmi 2, the dated Mi 3 and the Mi 4i, which has within months of its launch, been replaced by the Mi 4c.
Wonder what Meizu have to say about this. For the unaware, Meizu is the other brand for which US Mobile has been offering its phones in the US.
I had a feeling this was coming sooner or later. The entire thing seemed off from the start. First they are selling phones that aren’t even in production anymore (which leads me to believe they bought an overstock sale from a distributor for a cheap price). Second I live in the US and until yesterday I had never heard of US Mobile before. If Xiaomi was going to enter the US Market it would be with the Redmi Note 3 at the very least and they would most likely partner with Tmobile or ATT, the two largest GSM carriers.
Yep, I was waiting for something like this… It was all too good to be true! Otherwise it would just open the flood gates for them to go nuts with their latest models and other manufacturers!
I still can’t understand how OnePlus can sell their phones directly to Europe and the US and Xiaomi can’t though..?
There is nothing preventing Xiaomi from selling in the US. Hugo said earlier this year they would enter the US when they felt the time was right. Most of their phones have FCC certification already due to being sold in countries that use the FCC.
Keep in mind Xiaomi is still a very young company, OnePlus while a new brand is a subsidiary of OPPO which has been around a lot longer and was already sold in several countries overseas.
Ahh ok, so OnePlus sold in other countries on the strength of OPPO and their lawyers I guess..?
As long as they apply for the correct patents they can sell anywhere in the world. Any of these brands can.
So does this mean they’ll have to stop now?
On a side-note, it appears the phones are no longer being advertised on the US Mobile site. The Xiaomi/Meizu phones were easily found yesterday at https://www.usmobile.com/shop, and their respective product pages were tagged with “Ships from HK Seller”. A search of their site today for either ‘Xiaomi’ or ‘Meizu’ gets the following result: “SORRY, NOTHING MATCHED YOUR SEARCH CRITERIA!”
Don’t know why they have to shout it.
Xiaomi/Meizu might have threatened them with legal action. In Asia it is a lot harder for Xiaomi to take legal action against those who sell their devices unathorized but in the US there are legal protections for companies. Apple has been very successful at suing over unauthorized sales.
Maybe Xiaomi is afraid there will be some lawsuits against them? Apple for one?
As long as Xiaomi obtains the necessary patents they could sell here. This is assuming they actually use any patents owned by Apple.
Apple is the world’s biggest patent troll, they’ll find a way.
Apple has a bad rep but Samsung, Google and Microsoft have been just as big of patent trolls. Patents was the only reason Google acquired Moto, they wanted Moto’s portfolio of over 20,000 patents.
Apple would kill them in court just over miui design. The body style isnt an issue now. There are several other patent issues not Apple related that has kept them out of N America.
Apple can’t sure for a design looking similar to iOS. Unless it specifically violates an Apple patent. Apple’s own iOS has borrowed heavily from several Android companies over the years. Being inspired by isn’t enough to sue.
Apple has so much patents in any kind of form and phone use, if they want to sue Xiaomi, they can. By doing that in the US if Xiaomi were to be officially available over there, they would sure have a big chance of winning it.
Again Xiaomi would have to be violating a current patent or they would have no case.
Xiaomi cant sell out of chinese market if not pay patents. If they pay this, the actual phones cant sell to amazing prices, maybe more higher than Samsung / LG or similar brands
What patents are you referring to?
Because Xiaomi already sells in other countries besides China and the prices are exactly the same.
Microsoft gets a pay for every Android device I believe. How about the Ericison issue in India, forcing them tovstop selling mediatek based phones and only offer Quallcomms.
What would happen if they’d go worldwide? They get sued. A lot, problably.
They are already sold in several countries without getting sued. As long as they obtain the necessary patents they can sell in those countries.
Right now they have only one model with a Mediatek SoC on it, the Redmi Note3.
They actually already make a Qualcomm version (SD650) which is the Redmi Note3 Pro.
Then they have the Redmi 3 (SD617) and the soon coming MI5 (SD820)… Oh, I was forgetting the MI4 (SD801), MI4c(SD808) and MI4i(SD615).
Again… What patent are they infringing?
Do you specifically know what’s going on or you’re simply assuming?
Why do they make the snapdragon version of the Note 3? Exactly. They can’t sell MediaTek phones in India.
Their patent infringing is a possible option for companies like Apple. I don’t say it is happening, but it is definetely possible.
They have the issue with Ericsson patents in India.
Besides that, there’s no reason to doubt that they are not paying the patents fees, infect they sell in several countries without getting sued.
You said that of they go worldwide they will get sued a lot for patent infringement.
And that was my question, are you still referring to Mediatek/Ericsson or something else?
The article was about Snapdragon equipped phones sold in the USA
AAPL stock up 10 points after this news story broke. Apple executives: “Whew…that was a close call. The last thing we need is a Chinese competitor selling devices with much better specs for 25% of the cost of an iPhone”.
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