Proving they didn't learn anything from the RMA fiasco: Removing an advertised feature (unlocking bootloader), lying to customers (unlock tool) coming back for over a year, denying warranty for unlocked bootloader, even though its illegal in the...
not even Google prevents you from unlocking the bootloader on their phones so why are these Manufacturers doing this? what’s their reasoning behind this ?
Xiaomi’s reasoning was they produce different phones for Chinese internal and for global market. A lot of scalpers bought the Chinese version, took it outside China, flashed a global rom and sold it. Chinese versions have limited frequency support and sometimes different chipsets, the problem was buyers of these phones nagged to Xiaomi’s support and left bad reviews, even though it wasn’t Xiaomi’s fault.
Yes, it sounds bullshit, I’m just illustrating, that if you ask companies for reasons, they can tell you some similar stories.
The good part, is that bootloader opening workflow was not the best, but at least acceptable for me compared to Asus’. You had to register your IMEI with a Xiaomi account, than wait a week and you could open it (This was the workflow like 5 years ago, and I still have the same phone, I don’t know if they changed it). This way they could slow down the scalpers, and they could see if someone want to mass open a lot of phones at the same time.
not even Google prevents you from unlocking the bootloader on their phones so why are these Manufacturers doing this? what’s their reasoning behind this ?
Google are one of the best manufacturers for this, they have always supported and provided instructions for unlocking as far as I can remember
Google benefits from the development made. Asus not so much. Been using pixel phones for ages now.
“Security”
Xiaomi’s reasoning was they produce different phones for Chinese internal and for global market. A lot of scalpers bought the Chinese version, took it outside China, flashed a global rom and sold it. Chinese versions have limited frequency support and sometimes different chipsets, the problem was buyers of these phones nagged to Xiaomi’s support and left bad reviews, even though it wasn’t Xiaomi’s fault.
Yes, it sounds bullshit, I’m just illustrating, that if you ask companies for reasons, they can tell you some similar stories.
The good part, is that bootloader opening workflow was not the best, but at least acceptable for me compared to Asus’. You had to register your IMEI with a Xiaomi account, than wait a week and you could open it (This was the workflow like 5 years ago, and I still have the same phone, I don’t know if they changed it). This way they could slow down the scalpers, and they could see if someone want to mass open a lot of phones at the same time.