back to article Xiaomi's Wang: We're coming to the USA

Chinese tech darling Xiaomi, flush with cash from a private equity placement, thinks there's never been a better time to crack the US market. Senior veep Wang Xiang said it was developing US-specific smartphone models with a 2019 launch in mind, Reuters has reported. However, carriers have to sign up to a deal. Xiaomi expects …

  1. DavCrav

    "That's enough to deflate any Wang."

    Came for the dick jokes. Was not disappointed.

  2. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

    National security

    Xiaomi is only selling handsets - not carrier infrastructure

    It might be tricky to ban them on the grounds of being made in China while allowing Lenovo and Apple.

    1. MiguelC Silver badge

      Re: National security

      That's what legislators are there for: to move around those tricky issues and make the explainable into law.

  3. mics39
    Pirate

    Why not?

    Xiaomi might be building a Trump tower in Shenzhen.

  4. mics39
    Pirate

    Why not?

    Xiaomi might be building a Trump tower in Shenzhen. Or a resort.

    1. mics39
      Facepalm

      Re: Why not?

      Sorry, didn’t realize I bungled the edit process.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Re: Why not?

        Sorry, didn’t realize I bungled the edit process.

        We could turn it into a new reg game.

        Xiaomi might be building a Trump tower in Shenzhen. Or a resort. Or a golf course

        Your move

        1. mics39
          Pint

          Re: Why not?

          Or Xiaomi could just go cheap and just fund an Ivanka tat sweatshop.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    hmmm... sure....

    In order to even think of beginning to sell phones. First make phones that people want. Not the opposite!

    People don't want that "notch" yet every shit-for-brains handset-maker does the opposite. We even got a notch these days on stupid low-end phones with low-res screens.

    ADD features NOT remove them. They (handset-makers) lured us in with IR-blasters, expandable storage, user-replaceable batteries and even a simple audio-jack. But a few years later ALL of that is gone. Yet the prices have gone up.

    For the asking price of today's phone I want not only an IR-blaster but a radio-controller-remote as well. And if you do remove the audio-jack then have at least the decency of putting 2 USB-C-ports on the bloody phone!

    If you don't make the products that WE (consumers) want but instead only make what you want us to buy. Then please stay away. We have enough crappy products already.

    1. Phil Kingston

      Re: hmmm... sure....

      "People don't want...."

      Well, some people may want. And some people may not be bothered.

      Last time I saw an IR port on a phone used, it was a Palm Pilot getting online through an 8210. I've not met anyone who puts the presence (or not) of a notch as a dealbreaker when it comes to phone choice. Bluetooth headphones are the norm round my way. And I've still never seen anyone actually swap out batteries (either for a quick top up) or to replace an eventual failed battery.

      That's just my experience, some of those things happen, I'm sure, in large numbers somewhere and by some user groups. But to suggest that everyone, in all markets, wants the same as you is probably incorrect.

      1. Bavaria Blu

        those were the days

        My Honor 9 has an "IR Blaster" - strange name! I used the one on my S5 once when I forgot the remote to my blu ray when I took it to a friend's. The app to use the IR Blaster was distinctly creepy, worse than any spyware I could imagine. It wanted to become a TV guide and somehow a social network too. For an essential app to use included hardware, disappointing.

        Otherwise not sure what I'd do with it. 25 years ago in school, I remember the geography teacher tried to play a tape but it kept stopping. We couldn’t believe it was possible at the time, but a guy had a watch with one of these gadgets. He pressed stop every time the teacher pressed play. I don't think the VHS player even had a remote itself, long lost.

        I wonder what kids these days do? Try to crack the wifi to run bittorrent or it that obsolete now?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: those were the days

          My Honor 8 also has that IR Blaster yet the inbuild software (which is a very simple affair) does not try to be a social network nor does it look creepy. So you're talking BS. Besides that "IR-blaster" is compatible with other (read: non Honor IR software) like this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.remotefairy4

          "I used the one on my S5 once when I forgot the remote to my blu ray when I took it to a friend's."

          THAT is the exact reason why you want one of those in your phone. In my own case it helped me out at friends house when their remote broke (water spilled) and the new universal one wasn't as universal as they thought.

          And unlike the one from the Galaxy S5 the one in these Honor phones is 2-way (read: programmable). You can transfer codes from your old remote to the phone (if you still have that one). So instead of having 10 remotes you only use the phone. With the above mentioned app I control both my TV, surround-system and TV-decoder-box from one single screen.

          And yes, you can obviously play pranks at stores and classroom TV's. But they are nonetheless very useful. In fact I've used that IR-remote much more than e.g. NFC.

          Besides it's not just whether you find it useful but about the current high asking prices for phones yet with less features. For the +900 USD for a high-end phone they might as well leave the IR-blaster in, keep the audio-jack, improve the notification LED by making it an RGB-notification LED and so on...

          As it is now, they (the handset makers) are nothing more than greedy bastards!

      2. DropBear

        Re: hmmm... sure....

        "I've not met anyone who puts the presence (or not) of a notch as a dealbreaker when it comes to phone choice"

        Now you have. Nice to meet you too. Also, the point of an IR blaster is not to pretend it's an IrDA communications port, but to give you the ability to use your phone as an IR remote which I would very much like to have indeed except my phone is way too old to have one of those and I'm not going to upgrade just for that alone. Oh, and for the record - according to some twenty thousand peeps, only about a quarter of them find any kind of notch acceptable.

        1. mosw

          Re: hmmm... sure....

          "I've not met anyone who puts the presence (or not) of a notch as a dealbreaker when it comes to phone choice"

          I don't object to the notch itself but I do object to including the notched area in the screen size specification. When I compare the specs for phones, what I want to know about screen size is what is the largest unobstructed 16x9 image that can be displayed.

        2. Manu T

          Re: hmmm... sure....

          "I've not met anyone who puts the presence (or not) of a notch as a dealbreaker when it comes to phone choice"

          It's not a dealbreaker if it still has the same usefulness and features. But many of these notched screens have no notification LED and/or miss some sensors. I do not object to progress if it actually improves the current and add features NOT when it's nothing more than a fashion statement.

          And you might be phone-crazy to power on the screen every 5 seconds to see if anything happened but I ain't. I'd rather have some blinking light that tell me that I missed a call or text. Preferably in a colour that I can choose (especially if you want me to pay big bucks for a phone).

          But the notch ansich is not the dealbreaker, the knowledge that compromises have been made is the dealbreaker!

    2. Good King Pencilarse

      Re: hmmm... sure....

      The Xiaomi Redmond 5A has an IR blaster, headphone jack, and expandable storage. While you can't replace the battery, and the camera is awful, I've been pleasantly surprised by how well it performs for a phone under £100.

  6. Hairy Spod

    Eh?

    "Xiaomi has vowed never to make more than 5 per cent margin on its hardware – something analysts believe will be hard to maintain. Particularly if the services and software revenue doesn't pan out. Remember that, outside China, it's competing with Google, which means it's competing against free stuff."

    Are you sure you have thought that through?

    If they compete with Google on a 1%, 0.01%, or 0% margin why cant they compete and still keep that vow?

    I would imagine keeping more than a 5% profit margin would be the difficult thing for an unknown trying to elbow their way into a market.

    1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

      Re: Eh?

      , it's competing with Google, which means it's competing against free stuff."

      Google hardware is far from free

      Xiaomi phones are generally the specs of high end Samsung, the looks of Apple and half the price.

      Looking forward to them disrupting the market a bit

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