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offerings include the mildly successful Redmi 2, the dated Mi 3 and the Mi 4i, which has within months of its launch, been replaced by the Mi 4c.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.