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The Chinese market is different. Chinese carriers offer minimal subsidies, so most customers are paying close to full retail for their phones and aren't tightl
by jdietrich 9y ago
The Chinese market is different.
Chinese carriers offer minimal subsidies, so most customers are paying close to full retail for their phones and aren't tightly coupled to a two-year upgrade cycle. Used phones are a popular choice for value-oriented customers.
Repair is the norm rather than the exception, so most customers will replace a cracked screen or a weak battery rather than just disposing of their phone. Labor costs are relatively low and parts and documentation are widely available. Broken phones (especially iPhones) are frequently bought by dealers, repaired and resold.
The big Chinese brands offer relatively good long-term OS support, but that isn't hugely important for Chinese users. WeChat is the app in China (for many users, it's the only app they ever use) and it's extremely well optimised for older devices. The APK is a mere 60MB and it'll run smoothly on devices with a dual-core SoC and 1GB of RAM.
The US market has historically been the polar opposite of China, but it's creeping closer. Chinese manufacturers are making a push for the US market and consumers are starting to wise-up to the benefits of paying cash for a mid-range device rather than taking the "free" upgrade when their contract expires. The used market is flooded with two-year-old flagship handsets that will perform admirably for another few years with nothing more than a new battery.
- baldfat 9y ago> consumers are starting to wise-up to the benefits of paying cash for a mid-range device rather than taking the "free" upgrade when their contract expires. What "free phones" they are all leased now. There might not be a monthly fee but at the end of the lease their is a buy out to be paid. My wife's Essential phone (SHE HATES IT) is $6 a month for 24 months and then $430 if she want to keep this crash prone phone.
- ShroudedNight 9y agoWas there an initial outlay? Depending on when one got it, < $150 for the best two years of what should have been a flagship level device sounds good to me, at least in theory...
- jdietrich 9y agoSprint have switched to leases with an optional balloon payment; Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T offer 0% finance plans with no final payment to own the device. Regardless, all the networks offer their customers a new device with no money up front and the same monthly payment as soon as their contract expires. It's good for retention, but it means that a lot of customers are largely oblivious to the actual cost of their phone.
- Markoff 9y agoyou can buy brand new unlocked essential for 350$ so what you write makes no sense to pay for used phone more than it's cost of brand new your wife should break such contract
- baldfat 9y agoCan break a lease. If you do you pay the full price of the balance. The only thing we can do is after the lease is over we get a new lease.
- supertrope 9y agoIMO WeChat is bloated. While the app itself only uses n MB, it stores all chat history and embedded multimedia on the device itself. Eventually each group chat will hog >1GB. I uninstalled after they made the app refuse to run without constant GPS permission.
- jordache 9y agoanecdotal feedback though.. your objection to them needing gps permission doesn't stack up at all against the robust platform wechat has become, which hundreds of millions depend on for everyday transactions. So the OP's point of people in China mainly needing WeChat is 100% relevant. While your side comment about what a single user doesn't like about wechat is 100% irrelevant.
- supertrope 9y agoForeign competitors are banned. If I lived in PRC I'd probably have to suck it up and use it.
- kccqzy 9y agoI'd rather prefer a chat app that stores all chat history and media on my device instead of some cloud. On my iPhone WeChat starts fine without having the location services permission.
- supertrope 9y agoThey just need to add automatic chat log pruning. 16GB of 32GB of storage fills quickly.
- fireattack 9y agoWeChat is 165MB (just the app, not including anything else) on my phone. Don't know where you get that 60MB number.
- woolvalley 9y agoAndroid or iOS? APKs are compressed too