How does Xiaomi do what they do and still make a profit?
>Specs rivalling top-mid range to top range
>Price rivalling low range to low-mid range
And it's not like they have Chinese botnets either. In fact they are the only Chinese brand that didn't have botnets found (unlike Lenovo, ZTE, etc.)
>How does Xiaomi do what they do and still make a profit?
They're using plastic, but also they're putting the parts in a case about as strong as wet cardboard to cut down on manufacturing costs
>And it's not like they have Chinese botnets either
Actually they sort of do but it's okay because only stupid normies use the stock out of the box ROM and they don't care about botnet anyway, not a problem for the average Sup Forums user.
Not OP, but in the market for a phone and Xiaomi seems like a great option. Here's my requirements:
>works well on T-Mobile USA (GSM)
>microSD card slot (would really prefer one)
>removable battery (a plus, but not necessary)
>small screen / form factor a plus
>support for latest MIUI and/or AOSP/CM/LineageOS shit
>budget of $200 USD max
wat get Sup Forums
I don't know shit about your special snowflake meme bands but the Redmi Note 3 Prime should cover most of those points but it has a 5.5" screen, another option is the Redmi 4 Prime which has a 5" screen.
But does the phone's own case actually matter though?
Everybody uses external cases nowadays.
They get those prices because little to no marketing. They mostly use word of mouth.
Don't know if the Redmi Note 3 Prime is even a model, maybe you meant Note 3 Pro, but it looks like that'll work perfectly on TMO according to willmyphonework. Thanks!
The RN3P works fine on metroPCS
Yeah i fugged up, the Redmi Note 3 Pro.
Make sure to get the dildodragon 650 version with 32gb internal storage and 3gb ram instead of the mediatek or the 2gb ram version.
I think they sell their phones for very thin margins and make most of their profit from their services like their mi cloud storage and app store.
Since Google is banned in China (and consequently google play) every Chinese phone manufactures seems to have their own app store for their customers in China. This is probably apart of why Xiaomi is reluctant to sell their goods in the west. Xiaomi wouldnt make as much money selling their phones since westerners won't be as interested in their branded services.
A combination of little to no marketing at least outside of China, and cheaping out on certain components (slower memory modules, camera, overall build quality, maybe even solder quality).
The reason why most known brands (Samsung, LG and all those) are more expensive is because they actually put a lot of money into advertising their products and also into research & development. The only Xiaomi phone which probably required a minimally large amount of R&D is the Mi Mix. Other than that, they just apply manufacturing and engineering concepts that have been in use for years.
>literally shekel logo
Xiaomi's default UI has a theme store that charges $1-5 USD for most of the themes.
Chinks go apeshit for that garbage and will end up spending as much as they did on the phone in themes for every holiday, cartoon or video game they see
>tfw my MIUI ROM looks like vanilla Android aside from the Settings
the joy of root + Xposed
Build respect for brand with premium phones at a reasonable price.
Sell accessories that are way overpriced based on the brand.
>xiaomi isn't botnet
Please tell me you're joking.
Zuk z2 is also an option, 180 dollars.
>Zuk z2 is also an option
no microsd
Well, he did say it's a preference and not a necessity.
When you set yourself a budget like that, you can't have everything. It's still got a smaller screen than the redmi note 3 pro.
High end phones like the iphones and Samsung' Galaxy flagships have a bill of materials $200 to $250.
Most of the mark up on these devices is going to pay for design, and R&D for future products, not to mention Apple and Samsung both design their own SoCs.
These Chinese vendors save money by borrowing from existing designs, they use readily available off the shelf hardware, and they're not designing any ICs themselves.
Redmi Note 3, $129 on Aliexpress
>These Chinese vendors save money by borrowing from existing designs, they use readily available off the shelf hardware, and they're not designing any ICs themselves.
>this is what the white man actually believes
>implying they make profit
wsj.com
Low labor cost, subsidized by gov, lower qa requirements, close to source.
>July 2015
Thanks for the "news" user.
>implying things have changed in 2016
macrumors.com
>wet cardboard
not really, you just have to not sit on it