Samsung and Other Manufacturers Disable Phones Bought on Gray Markets: A Consumer Nightmare
Samsung and Other Manufacturers Disable Phones Bought on Gray Markets: A Consumer Nightmare
As a rule of thumb, after quite a mediocre experience regarding more than a couple of items, I have learned to never buy Samsung, if an alternative exists.
74So….
- Never buy Apple because…
- Never buy Samsung because…
- never buy Huawei because …
- never buy oppo because …
- never buy an android because…
Well back to my landline I guess.
36Just buy some cups and string
10Fairphone
4I mean, Apple is an easy "no go" for me, because I like to actually own the devices I pay for. Huawei phones are solid, AFAIK.
1ASUS?
1
Don’t buy anything Samsung ESPECIALLY their appliances. They got class action lawsuit for fridges that breakdown, and when you call for the warranty to repair you’ll be dealing with months of nightmare of multiple technicians coming and going trying to to repair it. Oh and they only come during weekdays during 9-5 business hours so you have to take time off work for them to come, and if they “fixed it” it breaks down the next day spoiling all your food. I was losing money fast so I told them they have one last chance to make this right before I sue them. After that a manager called saying they’re going to send us a “new” fridge. Our “new” fridge was so badly banged up it had dents all over it. I was so exhausted by everything I just put magnets over it and called it a day. FUCK SAMSUNG never ever choosing to buy any of there products. Do your research before you buy!!!!!
15I have a fold 3 and I'm on my way to have it warranty repaired for the second time after having already completed three warranty exchanges. At least they're honoring the warranties; but I shouldn't have to repair a single phone so many times just have a working product.
7Among other things, I was one of these dumb people that bought a Bada phone, back then (Wave II). Hardware-wise it was a wonderful phone. But software wise it was abandoned by Samsung in a matter of months, IIRC. Never more.
Also bought a middle category Samsung TV a few years ago. It came with an awful IPS panel with a contrast ratio worse than an LCD casio watch and bad luminance. My fault for not swapping it in time. Nonetheless, I didn't expect such a crappy TV from such a brand.
1
I mean that should've been obvious after the battery explosion and battery swelling problems at Samsung. They don't care as long as it's cheap. Their bloat was also one of the worst, same for the build quality of the medium phones.
-5
Wow, this is messed up.
39- Buy Samsung for cheap in a poor country
- flash it with lineageOS or eOS
- ???
- Profit
26The only downside to this is that banking apps won't work anymore. Some of them won't work without GMS, or with a custom ROM, or if Knox is triggered (Smasnug), or even if the bootloader is unlocked.
Unfortunately, more and more banks are deprecating their web apps in favor of mobile apps, 'cause who doesn't have a smartphone?.
Otherwise, I'd switch back to LOS in a heartbeat.
13I am lucky enough to be able to avoid the GSM only banks and choose banks that do work on degoogled phones. Honestly, thanks to the ongoing trade-war between China and the US, degoogled phones will become more common and force banks to cater to those people. I'm not worried.
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Permanently Deleted
11Pretty much every country besides the US, AFAIK.
10Honestly, no idea. I think locking them isn't allowed in Europe, so I've never encountered a locked phone.
9
One of the many reasons why I don't buy "connected" devices anymore.
19You posting on Lemmy by mail?
23By "connected" I meant controlled by the 3rd party with or without my knowledge/permission. If I cannot set what and where is being sent from a device I don't use it. And yes, you can call me paranoid :)
8
how samsung know if i bought their phone in gray market?
16Just guessing. The phone is ear-marked for a target market, e.g. Africa. If it connects to an American network without roaming and without ever having been to Africa, it's clear that the phone was not sold through 'official' distribution channels.
27
I wish LG never stopped selling phones.
10LG V60 user reporting in, phone still kicks ass.
-1We still use an LG V40 as our "music phone"
1
To be fair, if they don't do this, they will need to increase prices in poorer countries - otherwise someone will simply buy the phones on the cheap and resell them in more expensive areas.
-57Sounds like you're defining a failure of the free market
If these devices are so cheap the marginal cost justifies the lower price, why isn't market competition eating into their margin in the more affluent countries?
Sounds like somebody's got their finger on the market balance
64A lot of times the cheap prices in low cost countries is (partly) subsidised by the higher profit in more expensive ones. Essentially buying market share and brand recognition for some lost revenue, hoping to recap it by cornering the market and rising prices in the future. At least that's the theory.
-5
It's called the free market where your can purchase and sell goods as you wish, within the applicable laws.
13Sure, I've personally got nothing against abolishing regional pricing and everyone paying the same price I do in the EU.
-5
Love how you're getting downvotes for pointing out the exact reason.
Diversion is often also a means to fund crime and terrorism when done at scale.
In some cases of diversion the product also gets altered by changing valuable content for cheaper ones. A good example of this would be medicine or liqour. Worst case is that the end user gets fake medicine.
Making your product affordable in a region also increases consumer safety as it will curb counterfeiting. In the case of phones this can lead to exploding batteries or electrocutions.
1Even on Lemmy, simple but wrong answers prevail over complicated truths.
2