We're missing out

Over Christmas, I spent some time with phones that aren't readily available in the United States, and it got me thinking. I have come to a conclusion that I don't particularly like. Here's what that is!

[Syt]

Phone choice in the US has become extremely boring

[Captaincoolmax]

-SuperFast charging
-Huge batteries with newer silicon carbide technology
- Proper Periscope zoom cameras with amazing portrait photography modes
These are the three current things that the chinese phones do leaps and bounds better among some other things than Samsung, Apple & Google.
And these 3 happen to be my top priorities 😅 as of now

[gmcg]

I say US deserved to be late in the competition. Banning Huawei just proves that US is not ready or refused to have Chinese smartphone manufacturers as competitors in their market.

[techzone]

Let's be honest, if the Americans weren't afraid of Huawei and they were still on the market, I'm sure they were detached leaders.

[AndrewHahaLee]

The Big 3 - Apple, Samsung, Google - are merely the "best mediocre" in 2024. Chinese phones come beefed up, comes with a charger and a free case in the box, and cost you USD750-800 on average. Sure software, is a bit harder to navigate, but it's not as difficult as someone's ability to try something new. I have the XM14U and I only charge once a day, during my 10-15min shower, from 20% to 70% and I'm ready for a full day without worrying about it ever again. Technology should not give you more things to do.

[Aviation]

For US to import china made phone, i suggest you import those phones from malaysia since those phones that are sold in malaysia always have the global rom and have english as the default language. They dont have the same problem as the chinese rom have

[arondyte]

This is one of the things that makes me happy that I live in Asia. Right below my office is a literal mall and on the 4th floor the following stores are situated side by side in a row:

Apple Authorized Reseller Store
Samsung
Huawei
Xiaomi
Oppo
Vivo

All their phones are in full display and you can demo them as much as you want.

I actually got my X200 Pro at the Vivo physical store the day it came out and I got a $200 discount, free Vivo noise cancelling ear buds, Vivo Watch, Power Bank and a bluetooth speaker which was pretty cool. Xiaomi’s pretty wild with their phone launches as well as sometimes they would throw in Xiaomi household appliances and electronics like Hair Driers, Robot Vacuums, Hair purifiers, monitors and even TVs

[kernboristv]

People in the West is missing out on these great phones cuz they afraid to come out of the box that's why Samsung iPhone an Google will always keep on giving them less for they money especially iPhone

[captcomps]

I wish Google did a 1 inch sensor for the Pixel. Lumia 1020 was best camera phone I ever used and that was over 10 years ago. This demonstrates how mainstream smartphone brands have backed away from pushing the digital photography envelope. There is no substitute for capturing a raw stunning image BEFORE any software changes are applied.

[arjunmohandas]

Being in India we are so fortunate to experience most of the phone from almost all brands. Starting from 100 dollars to 2000 dollars. We get them all from multiple brands. The amount of competition especially in budget and mid range is leaps and bounds better than most of the other places

[tarkanbashllari]

Back in my teenage years I used to have a couple of Chinese budget phones (Doogee and Leagoo). They were complete shit back then, and it used to give me the impression that Chinese phones were all like that. Until... I bought the Redmi Note 13.

It cost me 18, 000 Albanian Lek (around €170) and honestly, it completely changed my opinion on Xiaomi and Chinese phones in general, to the point I started genuinely questioning WHY THE HELL people are still buying iPhones and Samsungs in my country.

The worst part is that if you go to most phone shops, apart from Xiaomi, there are always those two: the fruit and the kimchi merchants. Forget Huawei, forget Honor, forget all the BBK brands, we don't even get Motorola OR the Pixel here. It's honestly that bad. Xiaomi saved Albania's smartphone scene from becoming an Apple & Samsung oligarchy shitshow and I can't thank them enough for it.

[TT]

The Oneplus lineup is our bridge to the Chinese tech. The Oneplus open is the best foldable available here in the U.S. (without importing). It's a 2023 model and is still mentioned in the top 3 for a lot of reviewers. For whatever reason, the brand is not getting a major push here in the states. It's kind of like a, if you know, then you know kind of thing. I love the open and I'm looking forward to the open 2.

[joshuabergeman]

What's really crazy is that the telephoto lens in the Vivo X100 Ultra and X200 pro that everyone is going on about is a Samsung lens. Why Samsung is selling it to Vivo and now Xiaomi but not using it themselves is a complete mystery to me

[Teh-Penguin]

I wish they'd finally put competent 3x telephoto on midrange phones. These cameras are dirt cheap. There is no reason, other than market segregation, to exclude a telephoto camera to the flagship.

[PeanutBreathing]

We have Huawei readily available in my region and when I tested the P60 Pro camera against my S21 Ultra, I could see a massive difference in photo details. It's a shame that we can't get the best of both worlds, because you notice the hardware difference. Competition isn't there anymore after the Huawei ban.

[iGremory]

I'm from the US, and I have a Nubia z70 Ultra. So happy with my purchase 😊

[Gary]

We can buy virtually anything in Europe.

[SimplemanOfficial-uu]

We have maybe almost 80% of chinese phone in Indonesia but lost iphone 16. Dont even dare to think about pixel, its completely banned here even in the online marketplace

[Djoki]

I live in Europe and id still have to pay like 1600 euros for a X200 Pro if i wanted to do a local purchase.
It would be easier to go to another country, like Austria, get a device there and come back home. Id still be 300 bucks in the green.

[pointblank]

Weird. I actually liked the ginormous camera bump. I think it kinda looks cool vs the usual tiny circles. My initial concern about it though was just smudging it with fingerprints. But then there are casings which are designed to cover them neatly.