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Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

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Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#71

Post by stelonix »

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #41
stelonix wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting, because coming from a country that's been targeted by US interventionism in the past, I'm pretty ok with Xiaomi spying on me, not so much when it comes to Google.

I'm not too happy about anyone spying on me, and I'm also unhappy about corporations vetoing software I want to install. Besides, one person's "targeted by interventionism" is another person's "liberated by democratic forces".

Sure we were liberated by having a military junta take power for 21 years. Civil liberties vanished and people were secretly disappeared. Great democratic liberation!

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#72

Post by Proven »

grishka wrote: post #35

Xiaomi is able to make their phones so cheap by making their software as crappy as possible. They collect a lot of data (yes, their calculator app has a privacy policy) and sometimes show ads. You need a Xiaomi account to enable debugging (adb). Though they're still immensely popular here in Russia.

Their sourcing and labor practices possibly save a dollar or two

https://knowthechain.org/wp-content/uploads/2020_KTC_ICT_Sco...

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#73

Post by savant2 »

aneutron wrote: post #62
as1mov wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the Xiaomi phones are supported by LineageOS. If you have an hour to spare, you can easily unlock the bootloader and install it to get a stock Android experience (even skip out Google Services if you want). I have the Poco F1, cost me about $230 for SD845 + 8GB RAM + 4000mAh + 256GB storage. It's a pretty good deal after installing LineageOS on it.

The downside is that you lose DRM-enabled content. For example, it's a hassle to use Netflix at 720p/1080p, and what's more important to my use case for example, is Spotify. It's _possible_ in theory, but it's extremely hacky. I personally went the Google route w/ a Pixel 4a, so I get a simple, zero non-sense UI, with no forced ads or anything, just a smooth experience, at a slight premium (not that much to be comple…

I have LineageOS on my Xiaomi phone and the only hassle is contactless payment. Spotify works fine and I did not try Netflix.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#74

Post by baybal2 »

fomine3 wrote: post #20
nabla9 wrote: post #2

This is a list of brand market shares, incorrectly labeled as vendor market shares. The largest smartphone vendor is BBK Electronics. They manufacture multiple brands like Oppo, Vivo, OnePlus, Realme, iQOO. Their brands have over 40% market share in China, India, over 50% in Southeast Asia, and are generally the largest vendor all over the developing world. The real list is 1. 24% BBK Electronics (10% Oppo, 10% Vivo,…

I read mobile industry mania's blogpost written in Japanese, it argues that OPPO was delivered from BBK but there are no capital relationship between BBK Communication Technology and OPPO(Guangdong Oujia Holdings). It also refers Nikkei's article confirmed that. http://blogofmobile.com/article/121143 I searched and it seems true. https://www.qichamao.com/orgcompany/searchitemdtl/e6f25044f9... https://www.aitouyan.com…

Both are (in part) owned by Duan, and are manufactured in same facilities.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#75

Post by the_third_wave »

chronogram wrote: post #43
as1mov wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the Xiaomi phones are supported by LineageOS. If you have an hour to spare, you can easily unlock the bootloader and install it to get a stock Android experience (even skip out Google Services if you want). I have the Poco F1, cost me about $230 for SD845 + 8GB RAM + 4000mAh + 256GB storage. It's a pretty good deal after installing LineageOS on it.

Back when I last looked you had to register an account, use a Windows application and wait a few weeks before being allowed to unlock the phone. Has that been changed then?

I'm using a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 ('whyred') from 2019. The first thing I did was get that unlock code (it took ~3 days) and unlock it. For the latter I used MiUnlockTool [1], a Java program which ran OK on Linux - no Windows needed. The tools seems to work on more recent models from what I gather at the related XDA thread [2].

[1] https://xiaomitool.com/MiUnlockTool

[2] https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/tool-win-lin-mac-miunlock...

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#76

Post by swiley »

lmm wrote: post #67
jcynix wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Or your telecom provider from tracking you? Don't get me wrong, I like these free OS versions, but while I could teach my wife, my mother in law etc to manage Netguard, I couldn't teach them to handle Lineage, f-Droid all by themselves.

> How does LineageOS stop the "little black box" which handles GSM/UTMS/etc traffic from spying on you? Is that part even made by Xiaomi?

Usually its made by Qualcomm.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#77

Post by nsonha »

senko wrote: post #30

I've got a Xiaomi phone (Mi 10 Lite) and am pretty happy with it. Hardware is great. Software (MIUI) is adware crap, which I knew when I was buying. I tweaked privacy settings as much was possible, and I use almost none of the builtin apps. Instead I use Firefox Focus+Mobile for browsing, Amaze for file management, Dropbox for file storage and PDF view, etc. Overall the entire experience is comparable (for me) to a S…

try unlocking the bootloader (annoying that you have to wait like other have noted) and use the MIUI EU distro. It's pretty much standard Android (might not even include gapps, I don't remember), plus the core MIUI and their international version of the apps (ones that don't link to Chinese online services). Best of both words.

For example I use their Music app for playing Youtube in the background without ads, I didn't even install the Youtube app.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#78

Post by Aulig »

Cant really beat Xiaomi on a price/value standpoint. Personally, Id never use MIUI though. So much bloatware. I replaced it with LineageOS and it's a delight.

Unfortunate that we must assume that the devices are manufactured under awful working conditions though.

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#79

Post by ksec »

meibo wrote: post #4

They're flooding the market with good, very very cheap smartphones - it's no surprise. Especially for older people that don't need $500+ flagships, a $150 Xiaomi is more than sufficient. I see them a lot nowadays. Makes me wonder if it's sustainable.

>Makes me wonder if it's sustainable.

While there are some suspicious of doggy accounting practice and also political investment, Xiaomi is actually a company listed in HKSE 1810.HK [1] with positive cash flow and operating income. Currently valued at around ~$90B USD.

Their phone are at a very low gross margin but their other products, or they call it the Xiaomi ecosystem is quite profitable. ( Comparatively Speaking ). And of course they earn most of their profits from selling Data and Ads. Which to be fair is similar to Google. ( Cough on the surface because we dont know how those Data are used Cough )

So to answer your question, it is sustainable. And they benefited most from the Huawei incident.

[1] https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/1810.HK?p=1810.HK&.tsrc=fin-...

Re: Xiaomi becomes number two smartphone vendor for first time ever in Q2 2021

#80

Post by timonoko »

I just bought 69€ Xiaomi Redmi 9A and accidentally discovered it has full-fledged USB-OTG. This was not mentioned in specs and cheapest OTG-phone seems to be around 300€.

What is going on, maybe NFC and other expensive goodies are just disabled by software? And maybe this OTG just stops working at next update?

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