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Article says that multiple phone makers do this in Mexico. I haven't heard about this practice in other countries. Could it be that there is a particularly dum

Article says that multiple phone makers do this in Mexico. I haven't heard about this practice in other countries. Could it be that there is a particularly dumb law in Mexico which makes companies do this?

xbmcuser 3y ago
ah no mexican government is fining companies for doing this
KennyBlanken 3y ago
Link that isn't blogspam (and far easier to read to boot): https://mexicobusiness.news/tech/news/samsung-blocks-smartphones-acquired-through-gray-market https://mexicobusiness.news/tech/news/samsung-blocks-smartph... > According to Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Agency (PROFECO), Samsung smartphones acquired through the gray market pose a risk of suboptimal device performance. Moreover, it could also expose consumers to incompatibility with Mexico’s mobile networks, limit technical support accessibility and inadequate cybersecurity controls within the device, among others. looool at this bullshit. Carriers can block incompatible phones, and most Samsungs are locked up tight bootloader/firmware-wise so that bit about security is a joke. > Since the acquisition of technological devices through the gray market is not explicitly prohibited by Mexican law, multiple technological companies have urged the country to propose legislation aimed at preventing and prosecuting the sale of unofficially distributed devices. However, only eight days after going into effect, the PROFECO and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) in Mexico petitioned Samsung to cease blocking smartphones purchased by unofficial channels, arguing that the measure applied by the South Korean company affected Mexican consumers' rights. From reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/16pgliq/samsung_blocking_importedinternational_phones_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/16pgliq/samsung_bl... Numerous people saying the prices from the official distributor are incredibly expensive. This is true in a lot of smaller countries - one distributor has official distributorship and somehow it becomes the government's place to help them protect their monopoly on distribution.
- hurryer 3y ago
  Why would Samsung have just one distributor in Mexico with very high prices? This doesn't make sense. In EU you can buy from a variety of sellers at various prices. You can buy grey market too and Samsung doesn't disable those phones. So what is special about Mexico?
  - f33d5173 3y ago
    Seemingly it wasn't just samsung, but a number of companies all felt the need to do this. Some of them didn't go as far as disabling, but simply showed a warning, which does little to deter people from buying grey market phones. It's possible that all these manufacturers were worried about breaking some mexican regulation if they let customers continue using these phones.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    If you import a phone from another country in Europe you can run into other issues. For example if you buy a Samsung in the Netherlands, Samsung Pay won't work. Because it's not available there, even if you have a bank account in another country where it is :(
- Namidairo 3y ago
  > looool at this bullshit. Carriers can block incompatible phones, and most Samsungs are locked up tight bootloader/firmware-wise so that bit about security is a joke. If I recall, they still (to my dismay) permanently blow KNOX e-fuses when the bootloader is unlocked, which permanently breaks quite a few features in the phone, even when bootloader is re-locked. (The health app, secure folder, some other things.) Yes, carriers can still quite easily block incompatible hardware just by looking at the IMEI TAC when the phone tries to connect. I suppose an even more insidious way of doing this would be Samsung forcing carriers to block certain ranges from connecting to their networks, as part of their support contract.
- fomine3 3y ago
  If it's what Samsung/Motorola wanted, why they did it only in Mexico?
abdullahkhalids 3y ago
Not exactly this. But, Pakistan had a huge problem of smuggling, where people were getting new/used/stolen phones from other regions through the black market, and obviously not paying any sort of tax on the import and purchase of the phones. Pakistan's solution was to force telecom operators to stop providing service to any phones which were not registered with the government. The phone is not disabled, just not provided any service within Pakistan. There is a grace period of three months from the first time a cell phone connects to any tower within Pakistan. This is sufficient for most vacation goers. The whole thing is super obscene, because the amount of duty on the phones is extremely high. I think for flagship phones something like 60-70% of the dollar price.
- ansgri 3y ago
  I heard Turkey does something similar.

xbmcuser 3y ago

ah no mexican government is fining companies for doing this

KennyBlanken 3y ago

Link that isn't blogspam (and far easier to read to boot): https://mexicobusiness.news/tech/news/samsung-blocks-smartphones-acquired-through-gray-market https://mexicobusiness.news/tech/news/samsung-blocks-smartph... > According to Mexico's Federal Consumer Protection Agency (PROFECO), Samsung smartphones acquired through the gray market pose a risk of suboptimal device performance. Moreover, it could also expose consumers to incompatibility with Mexico’s mobile networks, limit technical support accessibility and inadequate cybersecurity controls within the device, among others. looool at this bullshit. Carriers can block incompatible phones, and most Samsungs are locked up tight bootloader/firmware-wise so that bit about security is a joke. > Since the acquisition of technological devices through the gray market is not explicitly prohibited by Mexican law, multiple technological companies have urged the country to propose legislation aimed at preventing and prosecuting the sale of unofficially distributed devices. However, only eight days after going into effect, the PROFECO and the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) in Mexico petitioned Samsung to cease blocking smartphones purchased by unofficial channels, arguing that the measure applied by the South Korean company affected Mexican consumers' rights. From reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/16pgliq/samsung_blocking_importedinternational_phones_in/ https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/16pgliq/samsung_bl... Numerous people saying the prices from the official distributor are incredibly expensive. This is true in a lot of smaller countries - one distributor has official distributorship and somehow it becomes the government's place to help them protect their monopoly on distribution.

hurryer 3y ago
Why would Samsung have just one distributor in Mexico with very high prices? This doesn't make sense. In EU you can buy from a variety of sellers at various prices. You can buy grey market too and Samsung doesn't disable those phones. So what is special about Mexico?
- f33d5173 3y ago
  Seemingly it wasn't just samsung, but a number of companies all felt the need to do this. Some of them didn't go as far as disabling, but simply showed a warning, which does little to deter people from buying grey market phones. It's possible that all these manufacturers were worried about breaking some mexican regulation if they let customers continue using these phones.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  If you import a phone from another country in Europe you can run into other issues. For example if you buy a Samsung in the Netherlands, Samsung Pay won't work. Because it's not available there, even if you have a bank account in another country where it is :(
Namidairo 3y ago
> looool at this bullshit. Carriers can block incompatible phones, and most Samsungs are locked up tight bootloader/firmware-wise so that bit about security is a joke. If I recall, they still (to my dismay) permanently blow KNOX e-fuses when the bootloader is unlocked, which permanently breaks quite a few features in the phone, even when bootloader is re-locked. (The health app, secure folder, some other things.) Yes, carriers can still quite easily block incompatible hardware just by looking at the IMEI TAC when the phone tries to connect. I suppose an even more insidious way of doing this would be Samsung forcing carriers to block certain ranges from connecting to their networks, as part of their support contract.
fomine3 3y ago
If it's what Samsung/Motorola wanted, why they did it only in Mexico?

abdullahkhalids 3y ago

Not exactly this. But, Pakistan had a huge problem of smuggling, where people were getting new/used/stolen phones from other regions through the black market, and obviously not paying any sort of tax on the import and purchase of the phones. Pakistan's solution was to force telecom operators to stop providing service to any phones which were not registered with the government. The phone is not disabled, just not provided any service within Pakistan. There is a grace period of three months from the first time a cell phone connects to any tower within Pakistan. This is sufficient for most vacation goers. The whole thing is super obscene, because the amount of duty on the phones is extremely high. I think for flagship phones something like 60-70% of the dollar price.

ansgri 3y ago
I heard Turkey does something similar.