The Xiaomi international expansion It is being overwhelming for example in Spain, but Xiaomi does not want to compete against traditional channels that allowed them to continue buying their mobiles in Chinese online stores or in unofficial importers.
The firm has announced that from now on Xiaomi mobiles manufactured for the Chinese market they cannot be flashed with a global MIUI ROM and vice versa, something that prevents abuses detected by Xiaomi among unauthorized or unofficial importers.
Be very careful with Xiaomi with pre-installed Chinese ROM
The numbers indicate that in recent months Xiaomi is in one of the best moments in its history. The company presented remarkable quarterly results last August, and in its income it stood out the percentage of that income that was due to international markets: 36.3%.
In Xiaomi they want to grow in that section, and for this they are limiting options that traditionally gave access to their mobiles. If you want to buy one of Xiaomi phones, it will be increasingly difficult to do so outside official or authorized channels.
So, be very careful if you want to buy a Xiaomi mobile through unauthorized channels, because if you do not have the Global ROM and you want to use it in Spain, you could find yourself with a device in which you can only use the official ROM for China. and no possibility of flashing it with the global ROM.
This is what the firm explained in an official announcement in the MIUI discussion forum, its ROM derived from Android. In this announcement they explained how it was “very important to consider before flashing or updating your ROM.” From now on we can only update to a MIUI Global ROM if our mobile has been manufactured for the “Global” market —And labeled that way by vendors.
If we do not have a “global” mobile, we will not be able to install the global ROM with access not only to the Spanish language, but also to Google Play and Google applications and services which are not officially available in China.
This is how Xiaomi blocks the process
As explained in XDA Developers, when Xiaomi started making available ROM MIUI 10 Global Beta 8.7.5 in July of this year, it did so with a secret feature: that compilation had protection to prevent you from being able to revert to previous versions (the so-called ‘anti-rollback protection’) of the ROM.
That means that if the ROM did not end up liking those who tested it, they could not go back to a MIUI 9 Global Stable: by doing so, their mobiles were turned into “bricks”. It was only possible to recover the mobile with the EDL mode (‘Emergency Download Mode’), which was only possible to access with an authorized account that not many users have.
The measure was intended to avoid the operations of large importers who bought mobile phones aimed at the Chinese market, with the Chinese MIUI ROM, to flash them and leave them with the Global ROM that included Google Play and Google services and applications although, yes, then it gave problems when it came to being updated.
In Xiaomi they even detected that some of these importers were taking advantage of insert malware or adware to earn some extra money by selling those devices, which damaged Xiaomi’s reputation.
A potential solution was to completely block the unlocking of the bootloader as Huawei has done recently, but Xiaomi has decided not to make such a drastic decision, and they have wanted to block part of the process to avoid these abuses by unauthorized importers.
If you have installed MIUI 10 8.7.5 or higher on your device, you have activated that protection that blocks the flashing of previous ROMs. If you are not sure, in XDA Developer they explain how to check the status of your device using the so-called ‘rollback index’ that can be consulted from the fastboot mode, which will allow you to know whether or not you can “go back” if the ROM you have available does not convince you.
This operation also makes the process of flashing custom ROMs on Android devices more uncomfortable, because in addition to waiting those 30-60 days to receive authorization from Xiaomi in its ‘Mi Unlock’ application, it also change the installation of a recovery menu like TWRP.
Here it is convenient to go, for example, to the specific XDA forum for each model, where you can probably find specific answers if you want to install, for example, LineageOS or Pixel Experience on your Xiaomi phones. Everything becomes more uncomfortable, yes, but Xiaomi explains that with it avoid problems for users in terms of malware, adware or devices that may not function properly as they are not manufactured for the global market.
Beware of unofficial channels
Until not long ago, getting one of the many models of the Chinese manufacturer was possible only thanks to importers with online stores both in china and in the rest of the world.
The process had and has significant disadvantages: Chinese warranty is only one year and if something happens to the terminal, the owner bears the shipping costs to have it repaired or replaced. In addition to this, we are exposed to assume the cost of importation in customs, and delivery times increase considerably, with shipments that take between two weeks and a month being normal.
However these disadvantages were compensated with significantly lower prices than those offered in official channels or in authorized importers, which meant that even with the presence of physical stores – there are already 12 in Spain, for example – some users continue to prefer to buy in Chinese online stores and in national importers that, yes , in some cases they offer shipments from Spain and a two-year warranty.
With this measure Xiaomi seems to want to close the tap of those channels not authorized to operate in this way. Many of the mobiles marketed by these stores made it clear in their description that they arrive with the Chinese MIUI ROM, but could be unlocked then install the Global ROM.
Now that will not be possible with the new decision of Xiaomi, which will protect your mobiles against this type of operation. In fact, a few weeks ago they already threw another jug of cold water on users who flash ROMs, because the operation of unlocking the bootloader, necessary to be able to install new ROMs (official or not) was much more annoying.
The usual process involves making the request through a Xiaomi application that took a maximum of 3 days to enable the unlocking. Now that period has become 30 or even 60 days depending on the model (the Mi A1, Mi A2 and Mi A2 are exempt as they are within the Android One program), something that complicates the operation for both private users and unauthorized third parties that imported these devices and prepared them to save that operation for users.
The objective, evidently, is the unofficial sales channel control, which despite having favored Xiaomi as a spearhead to begin to be known outside of China, now is no longer “blessed” by the Asian manufacturer.
The measure has caused various criticisms from users, as expected, and we will see how those unauthorized channels react, which will foreseeably try to get units with Global ROM so that at least users can access them if they decide to buy in these channels.
More information | MIUI
LoL Patch 14.6: Riot reveals the next Crystallis…
BTS member Suga’s concert film D-Day will be released in…
This is why game journalists are “bad” at video games
The Gentlemen on Netflix – Should you watch the film…
Shogun release schedule: When is episode 4 coming out? |…
The new Assassin’s Creed title moves away from the game, clues…
The use of AI in board games causes a new scandal
Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 2: Mythical weapons, bosses and…
Halo Infinite: A new map with Operation Cyber Showdown III
New LoL High Noon skins: release date, champions and more
