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How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

forbes.com

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Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#41

Post by kefka »

Im not surprised.

I've found that Chinese phones are very good quality and exceptionally great price. Not only phones, but I've also found that Android tablets are priced literally at 'throw away' prices.

For example, I just priced a 1.2GHz quad core android tablet running Android 4.2, 512MB ram, 4GB storage, with SIM slot, for $64. 1

I also bought a phone from China. It's a quad 1.4 GHz, 1G ram, 16G storage, 2 sim slots.. It's crazy fast, the size of a Galaxy Mega, and was $200. So yes, if you do choose to buy from China, you cut out the likes of the Wal-Marts and Best Buys. Instead, you can buy directly from the manufacturer and pay 1/2 what you would normally pay. And with some of these prices, they are approaching technology that I don't hurt much if I lose.

Now, please be aware, if you buy a Clone phone from China, you'll likely get ripped off. They are made intentionally to defraud and deceive. They do that to the poor saps whom buy them, as well as the people whom they pawn them to. And their components are usually pretty bad. If you stick with the obvious Chinese phones, you'll be much safer in the long run. Those are bought by the Chinese, whom see cheap as a bad thing. (Of course, the Chinese swoon after Samsungs and iPhones anyways...)

1 : http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Cheap-RK76-7-TFT-Touch-Screen... Unsure if reputable dealer, low sales numbers. Beware. Find at least 1000 sales.

Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#42

Post by r0h1n »

rednukleus wrote: post #11
JonFish85 wrote: post #5

100,000 phones a week? Big deal. Just over 5 million a year. If we're comparing to Apple, Apple sold 125M last year [1]. And 52 different version numbers. Support must be a nightmare, if it even exists outside of just "we'll give you next week's version". These must be pretty minor changes if they're happening every week. How many of them are being passed through rigorous QA? I'm curious how many of the batches are j…

What kind of warped reality do you live in that only selling 5 million units a year while updating the hardware every week is "no big deal"? Regarding rapid obsolescence, this seems to work very well in Asian markets. They typically release a far greater number of devices, because there is a strong market for second hand phones, and many people like to keep switching to the latest thing.

Seconding the rapid obsolescence point about Asian markets. The CEO of one of the leading mobile phone retail chains (440+ stores) in India (3rd largest global smartphone market after China and the US, might be second largest very soon) told me consumers are changing phones every 9 months on an average.

This is the mass market he's referring to, not the folks who're spending $600-800 on the latest iPhones or Galaxy Notes.

Still, makes me feel positively ancient given I used my Nexus One for nearly 3 years before moving to the Nexus 4.

Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#44

Post by casperc »

vzhang wrote: post #37

If their products are crap, who cares how often they release them? But take a look at what they are offering for $300: Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-5678.php Design: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-pictures-5678.php

I wonder why they put a barometer in there. Is that actually useful? I would love to have a thermometer in my phone, but I can't think of a use for a barometer that isn't bettered by an online weather service.

Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#45

Post by nichtich »

It's mostly a marketing hype. Xiaomi is known for it's style for "releasing" a phone that's really cheap for the specs, but limiting the supply until when the price for the hardware drops. Hardcore fans who closely follow the company may get the phone early and brags to their friends about how good the phone is compared to the price thus driving up the hype, but when average consumer can actually get the device it'll not be so impressive anymore. Now with this reputation more widely known then before, they may be trying to lessen the doubt by promising "weekly" update of the hardware. Thus when they finally have a big enough margin to supply at scale, people won't think the phone is "old".

Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#46

Post by mtber »

casperc wrote: post #44
vzhang wrote: post #37

If their products are crap, who cares how often they release them? But take a look at what they are offering for $300: Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-5678.php Design: http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mi_3-pictures-5678.php

I wonder why they put a barometer in there. Is that actually useful? I would love to have a thermometer in my phone, but I can't think of a use for a barometer that isn't bettered by an online weather service.

Not sure how they are using it but from what i understand it can be used with gps to help locate you faster.

Re: How China's Xiaomi Does In A Week What Apple Does In A Year: Update Devices

#47

Post by gibwell »

lotyrin wrote: post #31
gibwell wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you seriously think that Xiaomi makes the kind of changes that Apple makes to their products annually on a weekly basis?

Do you seriously think they would have to before it's worth being impressed over?

It's impressive if it is good for the customers, but the comparison with Apple is uninformative linkbait.
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