Are you going to these countries? Better not take the Xiaomi phone [UPDATE]

Xiaomi is currently one of the most popular, if not the most popular smartphone brand on the market today. What's more, the company achieved this result by being absent from several very important, if not key, markets. I mean primarily the United States, where there is no official distribution of Xiaomi phones and equipment. However, this does not mean that these devices are not physically there. People, thanks to Aliexpress and similar services, download Chinese manufacturer's products there on their own. And in such a United States there will be no problem with Xiaomi phones working normally. However, there are countries where Xiaomi smartphones simply will not work.

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In these regions, Xiaomi smartphones simply turn off

Cuba, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Sudan and Crimea - if you are going to go to any of these locations (although in most of them, however, are not top tourist places) your Xiaomi phone will simply turn off after a few days there. What's more - Xiaomi itself is responsible for such action. In Xiaomi's terms and conditions, these 6 places are listed as prohibited when it comes to export.

The company itself, however, does not control where the buyers ordering the goods come from, so not so long ago a few would-be users of Xiaomi smartphones sadly noticed that a few days after the shipment arrived, their phone simply stopped working. So far, it is not known whether the problem only applies to phones activated in these regions (i.e. launched for the first time or after a factory reset) or Xiaomi phones outside of them will also be treated similarly if someone goes there for tourist purposes.

I think that in such situations it is better to be safe and not take Xiaomi smartphones on such a foreign trip.

[Updated 14.09.2021]

Xiaomi in an official statement informed that it does not aim at blocking any specific markets, and the fact of blocking users' devices is due to "a supra-regional order to prevent smuggling through the gray zone and protect the security of user data ". At the same time, Xiaomi admitted that some devices were blocked due to the ongoing smuggling investigation. A spokesperson noted that "the investigation is now at a stage where affected devices can be unlocked." This statement, if true, sheds some light on the matter, but it does not solve the main problem - whether it is safe to use Xiaomi equipment in these regions, or if the company discovers that it is used there, it will decide to conduct another "investigation".

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