Xiaomi Unveils $360 Mi 6 Phone With Dual-Lens Camera, 'Four-Sided 3D Glass' Casing, No Headphone Jack

[MyopicPaideia]

I love my Mi Mix, Xiaomi is really doing some great stuff.... now if they also gave better OS updates....

Could I wipe it and install Android 7.x.x?

 

[kdarling]

I love it when people comment about how cheap these phones are and never questioned how they manage to get it so cheap?

It's neither rocket science nor socially evil how Xiaomi and others sell such nice phones for less.

1. They're okay with not making record huge profit margins on the hardware like Apple does.
2. They don't have the overhead of Apple, who spends a ton on fancy HQs, tens of thousands of employees, stores, R&D on cars, ads, etc.

Consider that Apple pays Foxconn about $230 for an iPhone 7 that it sells for $650. Now imagine if they were instead willing and able to take only a 2% profit margin like Xiaomi.

Frankly, beyond greed, there's no reason for phones to cost very much. It's no different than the way that DVD players, microwave ovens and other consumer goods started at $1,000 but now can be had anywhere for far less.

Yeah, but to implement all those safeguards at their manufacturing sites requires money and Apple probably had to reduce a cut from their products in order to get the manufacturers to apply those safeguards ...

Apple doesn't like to reduce their margins. Instead, they usually force Foxconn take the hit.

 

[Zedcars]

I suppose it's alright as long as you don't mind the spyware.

 

[fermat-au]

$360 for a highend smartphone, wow, must be so inexpensive because it doesn't even have a headphone jack. 😉

 

[wheelhot]

The way your post dismisses those deaths as merely a cost item is, to me, shocking. 🙁



Mike

Huh? Didn't you read my original post?
[doublepost=1492649919][/doublepost]

It's neither rocket science nor socially evil how Xiaomi and others sell such nice phones for less.

1. They're okay with not making record huge profit margins on the hardware like Apple does.
2. They don't have the overhead of Apple, who spends a ton on fancy HQs, tens of thousands of employees, stores, R&D on cars, ads, etc.

Consider that Apple pays Foxconn about $230 for an iPhone 7 that it sells for $650. Now imagine if they were instead willing and able to take only a 2% profit margin like Xiaomi.

Frankly, beyond greed, there's no reason for phones to cost very much. It's no different than the way that DVD players, microwave ovens and other consumer goods started at $1,000 but now can be had anywhere for far less.

Interesting how you pointed out point no.2, R&D and 2% profit margin ended up saying greed. So if Apple go for 2% do you think they'll have money to develop their own processors, green initiative, R&D and etc.?

Apple doesn't like to reduce their margins. Instead, they usually force Foxconn take the hit.

No one would like to reduce their margins, Foxconn included and in this case, since Apple needs the volume and Foxconn is the only one that can deliver it to them, the agreement would likely be mutual. Since if Apple pressured Foxconn and Foxconn decided not to do Apple iPhones, than Apple will have not enough iPhone to fulfill worldwide demands, which will result in a bigger loss for Apple.

 

[8692574]

Could I wipe it and install Android 7.x.x?

Not really, but being based on Qualcomm chip , there are some custom rom avaiable.

That said, I really love MIUI and its UI (yes yes it is a copy of iOS but I could care less who copies who) it is just that they take long to update to the latest Android subsystem and updates in between (it could be said about 90% of Android based devices).

Also with Android it is fairly easy to change the UI so I do not really need to change the rom.

I suppose it's alright as long as you don't mind the spyware.

After using the iPhone from 3 to 6 and all in between, I was "scared" about it, after 1 year of Android I am still questioning the validity of such fear, never had anything like that.... is it a mith?? Probably yes!

If you stick to the official store you have about the same % of risk as with Apple (yes they had issue here and there too....)

 

[44267547]

Such a beautiful device at half the price of a iPhone 7 Plus ,looks tempting 🙂

Out of curiosity, why did you edit your post to remove the "Ceramic" feature that was included for Xaomi?

Being this phone is half the price and available in your geographic location, maybe this will be a better purchase for you since you're not purchasing an iPhone 8 over a rumored "Camera bump."

 

[kdarling]

Interesting how you pointed out point no.2, R&D and 2% profit margin ended up saying greed. So if Apple go for 2% do you think they'll have money to develop their own processors, green initiative, R&D and etc.?

Well, yes, absolutely. R&D comes out before the profit margin is calculated, and Apple still stashes away hundreds of billions of dollars of pure profit.

What I was pointing out aside from profits, is that since Xiaomi doesn't spend any money developing electric cars, desktop computers, etc, they can price their phones even lower. That's to help answer your question about how they can do so.

No one would like to reduce their margins, Foxconn included and in this case, since Apple needs the volume and Foxconn is the only one that can deliver it to them, the agreement would likely be mutual.

Apple themselves have never claimed that they paid Foxconn more to give more to their employees. It's certainly not the way that Apple normally rolls.

On the contrary, the BOM estimates of the labor cost to Apple for assembling iPhones has actually dropped over the past ten years.

As Forbes noted, both the raises and the cost drop are due to non-Apple factors:

"There are two important pressures that Foxconn faces, neither of which have anything at all to do with various student groups demanding that Apple force wage rises.

"The first is that there is actually a shortage of labour in some of the parts of China where Foxconn has facilities. [...so Foxconn had to raise their super low wages to be attractive...]

"The second is that Foxconn is embarking on automating its lines. Terry Gou has said often enough that he wants to put in 300,000 robots in the short term and a million in the medium term. "