• Customs creates problems when delivering Xiaomi products (Xiaomi, Xiaomi) by mail to Russia from abroad

    Russian customs is unwrapping parcels containing Xiaomi smartphones. This is how the country is trying to combat gray supplies of Chinese devices. Customs won't give permission?

    Xiaomi: customs doesn't give permission?

    The Chinese company Xiaomi is so popular and attractive that people are ready to order them from Chinese online stores. But in addition to the risk of running into an unscrupulous seller, there is an additional risk associated with the refusal of customs to allow these devices into Russian territory. In April of this year, there were several cases when customs refused to let smartphones through Chinese company purchased in China. The official wording of the refusal may vary. Firstly, there is a requirement from the official distributor of Xiaomi LLC Smart Orange for a trademark, and secondly, the devices can be equated to encryption tools and also not allowed into the country. About a thousand people have already encountered this problem. In general, smartphones are not allowed into the territory Russian Federation through the customs of Yekaterinburg and Orenburg.

    No cheap Xiaomi?

    The opinions of news resources and analysts regarding this situation are divided. Some argue that customs requirements are legal and it is illegal to import gray devices when there is an official representative in the country. And some consider this whole situation to be a banal conspiracy and a lobby of distributors. Thus, not only gray suppliers suffer, but also ordinary people who independently purchased smartphones in Chinese online stores. In March of this year, all divisions of the Customs Service of the Russian Federation received notification that the Xiaomi trademark was included in the customs register of intellectual property objects. The method for checking devices at customs looks interesting. All parcels marked as “cell phone” or “phone” are checked. Boxes marked like this are opened and inspected. If a device with the Xiaomi logo is detected, then customs officers contact a Smart Orange representative, who may recognize the device as counterfeit and import into the Russian Federation will be prohibited.

    Is there no way out?

    How exactly the situation will be resolved is not yet clear. After all, it is not only gray retail that is suffering, but primarily ordinary people who want to buy a good smartphone for little money. Signatures are being collected on the Change.org website for a petition addressed to the Federal Customs Service of Russia and Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd. The petition calls for users to allow the import of devices from a Chinese company individuals. However, customs is not obliged to respond to this type of activity. Another thing is that it is not realistic to process all parcels with smartphones at customs, so some may be unlucky, but others will easily receive their smartphone. But take a risk with your purchase Xiaomi smartphones It’s not worth it in Chinese online stores yet, because it’s not clear whether you’ll be lucky.

    Smart Orange LLC, a distributor of smartphones from the Chinese brand Xiaomi, now has full rights as the copyright holder in Russia. As a result, customs is carrying out a massive seizure of parcels containing Xiaomi smartphones and accessories and returning them to Chinese sellers. And on at the moment You can purchase Redmi and Mi series smartphones in Russia with an impressive markup. We want to tell you how you can replace Xiaomi smartphones with other worthy Chinese smartphones.

    Xiaomi phones can be replaced with decent ones alternative smartphones Meizu. The most important thing is that you don’t have to overpay. And you can buy a decent Chinese phone at the same price.

    What can replace Redmi 4A?

    The Xiaomi Redmi 4A smartphone belongs to the budget series. Has a 5-inch display with HD resolution. Powered by Snapdragon 425 quad-core processor with Adreno 308 graphics. budget solution, and you shouldn’t expect high performance from it. RAM is only 2 GB and 16/32 GB of storage. The smartphone is equipped with a 13 megapixel main camera and a 5 megapixel front camera. Xiaomi Redmi 4A has a 3120 mAh battery and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS with MIUI 8.2 interface. Full review You can look.

    A good alternative would be the Meizu M5 smartphone. Yes, indeed many people may not like a special corporate design companies and even the interface. But these are all minor things.
    The M5 smartphone belongs to the budget series and has a plastic body, like Redmi 4A. Meizu M5 has a 5.2 inch HD screen with a protective 2.5D. Powered by 8-core Mediatek MT6750 chip clock frequency 1.5 GHz. There are two memory options available: 2 GB + 16 GB will cost $103 and 3 GB + 32 GB will cost $132. Main camera 13 MP with F/2.2 aperture with PDAF, fast autofocus and dual-tone LED flash, and 5 MP front camera. You can see the full review of the smartphone.

    Replacement option for Redmi 3S, 3X, Redmi 4, 4X smartphones

    The main advantage, which is also its main disadvantage, is a huge 6.44-inch display with Full HD resolution, covered with 2.5D glass. Powered by 6-core Snapdragon 650 processor, 3 GB RAM and 32/64 GB storage permanent memory, 4850 mAh battery.

    Both smartphones have Full HD resolution, Corning Gorilla glass protection, but different displays. The PHAB 2 Plus has a 6.4-inch with 2.5D curved glass, while the Mi Max has a 6.44-inch display. Lenovo PHAB 2 Plus is powered by an eight-core MediaTek MT8783 processor with 3 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory + slot for MicroSD cards up to 256 GB. Phablet Mi Max Powered by a higher-quality 6-core Snapdragon 650 chip with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory + a hybrid slot for a MicroSD card up to 128 GB. The phablet has a dual 13 MP main camera and an 8 MP front camera, while the Mi Max has a 16 MP and 5 MP selfie camera. The Mi Max has a 4850 mAh battery, while the PHAB 2 Plus has a slightly smaller 4050 mAh battery.

    I also want to note that it is another worthy competitor for the Xiaomi Mi Max smartphone. The Nubia Z11 Max phablet has a 6-inch Full HD screen, 16-megapixel main and 8-megapixel front cameras, 8-core processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 652, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory, expandable with microSD cards up to 200 GB. Battery capacity 4000 mAh.

    Options for replacing the flagships Xiaomi Mi 5, Mi 5S, Mi5S Plus, Mi 6

    Xiaomi Mi 5 is the first smartphone in the history of Xiaomi devices that was equipped with a physical front button, instead of the classic three capacitive keys. Smartphones have very good technical specifications. I wonder what can replace them?

    The scandal around Russian customs and Xiaomi smartphones does not subside: more than 10 thousand people have already signed a petition against the ban on the import of devices. Let's find out from experts whether the actions of customs and the Xiaomi distributor are legal.

    What's happened?

    In Russia, cases of postal shipments containing Xiaomi smartphones being delayed at customs have become more frequent. People buy them from Chinese online stores, but the parcels do not pass customs control. The reason is the appeal of the Xiaomi distributor in Russia (Smart Orange LLC): they own the rights to the “XIAOMI” trademark and have declared all devices passing through customs to be counterfeit. Therefore, customs prohibits the import of Xiaomi smartphones through postal mail.

    According to rough estimates, more than a thousand Russians are faced with this situation.

    Whose side is the law on: what experts say

    Hi-Tech Mail.Ru talked to lawyers about this situation and found out interesting details. Experts said they had not heard of similar cases in other countries.

    It is quite possible that customs will be bombarded with lawsuits, since despite the completely legitimate claims of brand rights holders, according to the law of the Russian Federation material carrier can only be declared counterfeit by a court.

    As Ivan Nikitenko, an intellectual rights lawyer, explained:

    A material medium can only be recognized as counterfeit by a court. That is, before the court decision comes into force, the disputed goods are correctly considered “goods with signs of counterfeiting.” This concept itself is legal. Therefore, the court must decide this.

    According to Russian law, a product can only be recognized as counterfeit by a court decision.

    However, the Head of the Moscow Human Rights Center Mikhail Salkin said that the actions of the distributor and the Xiaomi company are completely legal:

    Customs has the right to do this - this is regulated by various laws as well as agreements. According to Russian law, customs may require you to provide a document that allows you to use a trade mark or trade mark in Russia.
    Mikhail Salkin
    Lawyer, head of the Moscow Human Rights Center

    Lawyer Alexey Egorov also called these actions legal:




    The situation is indeed quite loud. However, from the point of view of the law, the distributor, alas, is right. He is the copyright holder of the brand in Russia. This is also supported by the decision of the Federal Customs Service. Now, when receiving a smartphone, customs is obliged to send a request to the distributor, and he, of course, will answer that it is counterfeit. Therefore, online platforms selling gray models can already be considered violators Russian legislation. It is easier for them to agree with customs and send the order back than to have problems with the law. Well, or at least not write that they are selling a smartphone of this particular brand (this is just a trick, not a legal way of selling).

    Position of Xiaomi and Aliexpress

    Hi-Tech Mail.Ru contacted the Xiaomi press service in Russia. to find out their attitude to this situation. They know about the situation with Russian customs and the distributor:

    Xiaomi is aware of the current situation and together with our partner RDC Group we are working to resolve the problem. Our fans have always been the company's top priority.
    Xiaomi press service in Russia

    It should be noted that Aliexpress representatives declined to make official comments.

    Is there a war coming with Seryak?

    So, Xiaomi smartphones are being detained at customs - this is unfortunate, but another question arises: will this become a trend? Other companies, such as Meizu or Apple, may also claim ownership of the brand and declare all devices ordered from other countries counterfeit. Then we will face a large-scale war between official distributors and sellers of “gray” devices.

    The customs actions set a precedent for other companies. There are already reports that devices from Sony, Blackberry, Chuwi and some other companies have been “wrapped” in a similar way.

    As Yuri Salkin said, such an outcome is quite possible. Customs services have received new equipment that allows them to examine parcels without opening them. Therefore, there is a possibility that an iPhone ordered from an uncertified online store may also get stuck at the border. There have been no such cases so far, but be careful.

    So far, all cases have occurred in Yekaterinburg and Orenburg customs, which is strange. For some reason, parcels with smartphones are not detained at Moscow customs and other cities. Perhaps they have just introduced new equipment there and are testing it. So in the future, other customs offices will probably also start stopping parcels with smartphones.

    Why do people even order equipment from China?

    The reason is simple - the price difference between a “white” and a “gray” device reaches an average of 30-40%. Let's say Redmi Note 3 Pro in the Smart Orange store will cost you 13,490 rubles. On Ali, a similar copy with global firmware is estimated at 8700-9500 rubles. In the upper price segment, the difference in percentage is smaller, but in absolute numbers it is higher - the “official” Mi Note 2 costs almost 35 thousand rubles, and the “Chinese” one costs 28,781.

    Are they “wrapping up” at all points?

    Not really. Among indignant buyers, Ekaterinburg and especially Orenburg customs points are notorious. Users note that Xiaomi smartphones are allowed through Vnukovo almost without problems. A trend has also been noticed: several devices that arrived in Yekaterinburg in early May have been tested, but those from April are still lying around. Community subscriber Irina K. at some point began collecting statistics - which smartphones passed control and which failed. From these data it is clear that many devices are stuck in Orenburg, and the “May” devices are leaving Yekaterinburg:

    Why did Smart Orange do this?

    As in the case of consumers, suppliers are simply looking for their own benefit - “parallel” imports one way or another hit their pockets. It is difficult to calculate the volume of “left” deliveries, but judging by the frenzied reaction of deceived investors, a certain percentage passed by the official importer. About intentions to “strangle” gray smartphones The senior vice president of Xiaomi himself spoke at the presentation in Russia. Another thing is that such a step seems to have been designed primarily for wholesalers - Internet shuttles, who bought cheaper there and sold more expensive here. Unfortunately, it also caught the attention of ordinary users.

    Will others start doing this too?

    In this regard, the behavior of Meizu, a direct competitor of Xiaomi for the attention of Russian consumers, is indicative. Meizu also has a representative office in the Russian Federation, but no one is fighting the flow of gray imports - apparently, they want to drown it out not with bans, but with service and other advantages of “white” smartphones.

    But there are also opposite examples, and from the well-known company Sony. The story about a guy from Surgut who ordered a PS4 Slim in Germany and received a fine recently spread all over the Internet - but there the issue is more likely to be the imperfection of the bureaucratic system: the new “Slim” simply did not have time to register in the database of the registry of notifications about the characteristics of encryption tools and goods. But the story that an employee of the Khabarovsk customs press service told to AmurMedia deserves close attention:

    “There was a precedent when we turned back a parcel with Sony PlayStation, because the copyright holder said that he did not give permission to import,” Victoria Aleshina, press service of the customs point of the Khabarovsk Territory.

    Victoria clarified that if a product is found in a parcel that is included in the Rospatent list, then a request is sent to the copyright holder - whether he gave permission to import. If the manufacturer refuses, the goods are returned to the seller. Judging by customer reviews, Sony is now pursuing exactly this tactic.

    Ok, I bought a smartphone, but it got stuck at customs, what should I do?

    Strictly speaking, you have two options. Of these, only one can lead to a satisfactory solution to your local problem.

    Option 1. Going to court with the Federal Customs Service, which is long and tedious. Even if the outcome is successful, the trial may last more than one year. By then, the smartphone will no longer be relevant. Plus there is the overhead of litigation to consider.

    Option 2. Try to get the money back. This option is preferable, if only because there are successful precedents. To refund, you need to make a request to the customs office about the reasons for the return, then open a dispute and attach a scan of the response there, explaining that the transport company returned the goods.




    Since March 15, 2017, another official distributor, the Smart Orange company, has appeared in Russia. It sells Mi equipment and supports users throughout Russia. It sounds good, but not everything is so simple.

    What's the problem

    A week after the loud announcement and the appearance of the official store, users in social networks complained about the following: Russian customs, by order of Smart Orange, began to unwrap Xiaomi smartphones ordered on sites like Aliexpress and send them back to China.

    It is worth noting that we are talking about users with single orders, and not about gray suppliers and delays of entire batches of “gray” products intended for sale in the country and tax evasion.

    Such illegal actions were noticed at the customs offices of Yekaterinburg and Orenburg. Many users have already suffered from them and have never received their Xiaomi phones from Aliexpress.

    How do they explain this?

    The Smart Orange company itself has officially confirmed its participation in the “scheme” and explains it as follows:

    According to the letter of the Federal Customs Service dated March 15, 2017 and paragraphs. 2 p. 1 art. 313 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, paragraph 1 of Art. 1515 and paragraph 4 of Art. 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as Article 18 of the Universal Postal Convention, Xiaomi smartphones imported through unauthorized channels are not allowed to be introduced into civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation. IN lately Cases of suspension by customs authorities of such consignments have become more frequent. The situation also applies to orders from individuals placed on foreign online trading platforms and sent to Russia by post.

    The company also encourages all users who are faced with a similar problem to become their customers and buy the same Xiaomi smartphone from them with an additional discount. This is the loyalty program.

    What about prices in Russia?

    The appearance of an official distributor in the country is an excellent event, which should primarily be aimed at improving service and user support, and secondly, at sales of official products. But Xiaomi fans on social networks noted the high cost of Mi smartphones; some models are sold 2 times more expensive than on Aliexpress.

    For example (32 GB), which is sold on Aliexpress for 8-9 thousand rubles in the Smart Orange store, will cost 12,999 rubles. The Mi Max phablet with 32 GB of memory costs 19,900 rubles against Chinese prices at 12-13 thousand. Mi Note 2 - 34,000 rubles versus 25-26 thousand rubles.

    How to order a Xiaomi smartphone so that customs does not return it

    Users note that the problem affected Xiaomi smartphones, light bulbs, bracelets and others smart gadgets pass through customs without problems. And we note once again that cases have been recorded at customs in Orenburg and EKB. And so, here is a small list of tips on how you can buy Xiaomi on Aliexpress so that customs does not return it.

    • ask the seller not to indicate that this is a Xiaomi smartphone (let him indicate Meizu, Bluboo, Venee or any other less popular brand)
    • ask the seller not to indicate that this is a smartphone at all (let him write in the declaration that it is a gift, a photo frame, etc.)
    • ask the seller to repackage the smartphone in another box so that it cannot be identified, without opening the package
    • please do not send to the customs indicated above (although this is difficult)

    What will happen to Xiaomi in Russia

    The Xiaomi brand is very popular in Russia, Ukraine and other countries. No small merit in this is due to the Chinese stores that sell Mi equipment to the whole world. What will happen now to the Xiaomi brand and products in Russia?

    The two main drivers of sales of Xiaomi smartphones are low cost and balanced characteristics. Without one of these components, the meaning of the devices of this brand is lost. There is a very small chance that in Russia users will start buying Xiaomi phones en masse at a double markup; such a scheme simply will not work. Most users will switch to similar smartphones that can be easily ordered from China: Meizu, LeEco, Huawei, Vivo, Oppo and others.

    Xiaomi Tech proudly announces its record sales every year; if you compare the numbers, it becomes clear that a large percentage of these sales come from international markets, where the brand is not represented at all. The merit of these sales is precisely Chinese stores with reasonable prices and worldwide delivery, but the manufacturer is usually silent about this in reports.

    Thus, by depriving Russian users of the opportunity to order affordable Mi smartphones on Chinese sites, Xiaomi itself will face losses and a drop in global sales. The current situation harms not only ordinary customers, but also the Mi brand.

    We hope that Chinese stores will adapt to such conditions and will “whiten up gray products” by simply repackaging Xiaomi phones in regular white boxes, without logos and inscriptions.

    Instead of conclusions

    Do you remember the times of Redmi 1S, Mi3 and the first Redmi Note with a 5.5-inch HD screen? When everything Xiaomi devices were sold in these cute beige boxes made from recycled cardboard. When even while waiting for the parcel there was something pleasant and magical. And when you picked it up at the post office and opened the coveted box, your delight knew no bounds.

    Today, the popularity of Xiaomi has made the company highly commercial and this is felt in all aspects. The new products come with a locked bootloader, and the recognizable beige boxes have become featureless white, like Apple's. Today everyone is trying to make money from brand fans by raising prices and cutting off supply routes. But many do not understand what exactly fans want from Xiaomi, since they themselves are not fans.

    Meizu M5

    The whole fuss with customs restrictions began with the order of Xiaomi Mi5, but de facto the distributor “covered up” the supply of all models that are officially supplied to Russia. The youngest of them is Redmi 4A.

    Enthusiasts know very well what this Redmi is - it is the only one in modern model line Xiaomi for real budget smartphone. That is, not when “we are creating an inexpensive mobile phone, but just in case, here’s eight cores in the processor, a metal case, 3 gigabytes of RAM and a hefty

    battery". Redmi 4A has only the “vital” bells and whistles for a new smartphone - 4 cores/2 GB RAM, LTE, HD display, 16 GB storage internal storage. For all this, depending on the color of the case, the Chinese ask 5500-7000 rubles.

    The alternative will not appeal to all enthusiasts (the more smartphone models you know, the fewer the choice seems), but it exists.

    Even slightly cooler egg characteristics, and even the iPhone design is absolutely free. The display is 5.2 inches (and brighter and more contrasty), HD, eight Cortex-A53 cores in the processor, this time MediaTek MT6750. Not as respectable as Snapdragon, but MediaTek's eight low-frequency cores are better than Qualcomm's four high-frequency cores. Meizu's operating speed is noticeably higher, and there is also an option with 3/32 GB for those who are willing to pay a little extra.

    The case is about the same in quality, and in black it looks very expensive - much more presentable than the black modification of Redmi 4A. Yes, and there is a fingerprint scanner, unlike the similarly priced Xiaomi.

    The “victims” in comparison with Redmi will be the volume of sound in the headphones and the volume of the speaker (it’s generally a problem), which can only be partially normalized using engineering menu. In terms of the quality of shooting with cameras, smartphones are approximately equal, but Meizu does not have freedom for firmware lovers (and neither does MediaTek, hee hee) - “put on” old smartphone You certainly won’t be able to use some Android 9 after a couple of years. But there is a global multilingual firmware that does not have to be Russified through “hard to reach places”, as happens with Meizu smartphones for the Chinese market.

    Options to replace Redmi 3S, 3X, Redmi 4, 4X

    The same thing with a different sauce. Models with 5-inch HD display, Snapdragon processor 430, unsightly cameras and batteries with a capacity of 4100 mAh. In fact, there is little difference, except for the design of the cases and the fact that Redmi 3S/3X are “elite” modifications of the third generation of Redmi, and Redmi 4 and 4X are mid-equipped versions of the fourth generation.

    So that life doesn’t seem like honey to newcomers in the world of Xiaomi, all these smartphones are also available in two versions - with 2/16 and 3/32 GB of memory. But the younger version is still more popular, because instead of the “luxury” Redmi 3S it is much more reasonable to take the Redmi 4 Prime with much more fast processor and Full HD display. All these models are Chinese

    sellers today estimate it at 8,500 - 11,000 rubles, depending on the color, modification and impudence of the individual seller. From here we will dance.

    Be mentally prepared for the fact that you will not find a smartphone comparable in terms of autonomy and openness to flashing at a similar price; you will have to make compromises.

    Meizu U10

    In this article, the number of Meizu will definitely set your teeth on edge, but there is nowhere to go. Because, excluding Xiaomi, this is one of the few manufacturers who, unlike all sorts of Elephone and Doogee, produce high-quality smartphones without “childhood diseases”, but still do not ask impressive sums for them, like Lenovo and Huawei.

    So, Meizu U10 is a “clone” of Meizu M3/M3s mini in a glass-metal case. Gurus will say that it would be wiser to contrast the mid-range Redmi with Meizu’s symmetrical answer - the M5s, but this model is so “neither fish nor fowl” and the self-quote of the M3s mini that it is better to prefer the U-series. Moreover, the smartphone is very beautiful in black.

    Everything that was said about the Meizu M5 is also true for the U10, with the only difference being that you get not 5.2, but exactly 5 inches of display and unsightly battery life (“it would last until the end of the day”) in exchange for a much more humane price - about 6700-8000 rubles for models with 2/16 GB on board. The quality of the display, cameras and operating speed are about the same as the Redmi in the title, the sound is worse, the battery life is worse (alas).

    Well, or you can still buy the M5s, its autonomy is already quite good, and the body is metal. It's time to give Meizu a medal for its ability to “spread” the same model into several families, in the best traditions of the classic Zhiguli.

    ZTE Blade V7

    No need to grin, gentlemen, geeks - even though ZTE does not produce the most functional and problem-free smartphones for its price, but after Oukitel or Leagoo you will understand that worse can happen.

    ZTE tried to sell this model in Russia, but to pay 16 thousand rubles for a smartphone in which the proprietary shell periodically “hiccups”, and the body is cheap even in appearance, there were few takers - Huawei and Samsung took them all away.

    But for 10 thousand - quite an option! Albeit a little “crooked” in color rendering, but still a Full HD display, eight core processor MT6753, good front camera and “one-day” battery life. In terms of sound quality, GPS/GLONASS reception level, design and speed of the system, and autonomy, the smartphone is inferior to Redmi, but the display and front camera are cooler, rear camera similar in quality to Redmi, performance in applications is also not bad. An equivalent alternative if you don't need custom firmware or super-endurance.

    Options for replacing Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime (Pro)

    Xiaomi Redmi 4 Prime

    If there is anything to miss about any of the “banned” in Russia Chinese Xiaomi, then according to Redmi 4 Prime, it is one of the best smartphones of 2016, and in general an unprecedentedly cool “state smartphone”. If only because the same combination of a capacious (4100 mAh) battery, display clarity (Full HD) and processor performance (Snapdragon 625) in one model is still

    no one has offered it yet. And, by and large, 11-12 thousand in Chinese stores versus 16 thousand in Russian retail no longer looks like an exorbitant overpayment, but let’s not be like our jaded colleagues in the capital, for whom 4 thousand rubles is not money. Let's look for alternative options.

    ZUK Z2

    Hand on heart, there is no full-fledged replacement for Redmi 4 Prime. Any analogues will be either slow, or not so hardy, or without a Full HD matrix (that is, they smack of “economy class”). But if you arm yourself with the idea of ​​a model (a powerful geeky budget non-phablet), you can find analogues.

    For example, there is already a “most exclusive” (because Lenovo is burying this subsidiary brand) glass smartphone with a 2016 flagship processor, Snapdragon 820, and a Full HD matrix at the core. Exciting? Very! Against this background

    smartphone Redmi 4 Prime is a “brake”, especially since mind Xiaomi cheaper even after the Chinese added a design in the style of the spectacular Redmi Note 4 to the younger model. And the cameras in the ZUK Z2, although not a masterpiece in themselves, are certainly better than that despondency that haunts Xiaomi compact budget phones, starting with Redmi 3.

    But there are no freebies even on Aliexpress (or “especially on Aliexpress,” as buyers of fake flash drives would say), so immediately familiarize yourself with the shortcomings of the Beetle, and don’t say that we didn’t warn you:

    • The body is glass and very slippery, so any “ boom“becomes more likely and, more importantly, “deadly” for the body panel, even if the smartphone falls on its “back.” Scratches on the body also appear very quickly, even without any extreme measures. In Redmi 4 Prime, everything is much better in terms of durability.
    • With firmware, everything is quite gloomy - new smartphones do not always come with Russian language pack, reflashing this model is quite tedious. Although in terms of “dirty perversions” nothing compares to modifying a USB cable in order to “flood” global firmware in Redmi 4A. Everything is relative, but be prepared to modify the smartphone software yourself.
    • The display brightness is so-so. Using a smartphone on the street is painful.

    By and large, ZUK Z2 is a “degraded” and more affordable Xiaomi Mi5, but in the absence of fish among the search for replacements for Redmi 4 Prime, it is good in its own way.

    Huawei nova

    Perhaps, officially imported Huawei will be the main “gravediggers” of Xiaomi in Russia if there are no smartphones left on the market at prices from Aliexpress. But with foreign models, not everything is so simple - the Chinese carefully “castrate” Huawei and Honor for the Middle Kingdom in such a way that they do not operate 4G frequencies (and sometimes 3G) in foreign markets. Therefore, Honor 5C and 6X are very attractive in price Aliexpress is better bypass. Or don’t bypass it, but before that, find the only working version of the Chinese modifications and make sure that multilingual firmware is installed on it. Why live like this, as they say?

    Therefore, you better grab a rare species - Huawei smartphone With Qualcomm processor! The Chinese are importing American chips with their Kirin, if you are not aware. Huawei nova started out as a middle-class mobile phone with an emphasis on glamor and these endless selfie-beautifications (when automation removes acne from the “face” of the face, widens the eyes and disguises the double chin) at a not very adequate price, but now it has dropped in price on Aliexpress to about the same 12 thousand rubles that are being asked for Redmi 4 Prime. For a smartphone with 3/32 GB of memory with the exact same Snapdragon 625 processor, no longer budget body materials and incomparably cooler cameras - not a bad exchange, right?

    By and large, nova is inferior to Redmi 4 Prime only in speaker quality, headphone sound and battery life. All other functions in it work on the same or more high level. And, of course, don’t expect support for LTE Band 20 in models for the Chinese market, but standard B3/B7 are available in absolutely any modification. You can take it without looking.

    Options for replacing Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro/Note 4/Note 4X

    Xiaomi Redmi Note 4

    A durable 5.5-inch phablet with a very fast processor by the standards of “state employees” - this is what Redmi Note is all about, of any generation. People, of course, love the Redmi Note 3 Pro most of all with its Snapdragon 650, good endurance and reliability, but many people also like the more beautiful Redmi Note 4 with a ten-core MediaTek, which eats up the charge indecently quickly, but “heaps” in benchmarks. Redmi Note 4 with Snapdragon 625 processor is, frankly, not that interesting, but that's it golden mean between the first two models. One way or another, we are talking about smartphones with a Full HD display, powerful processor, so-so cameras and good autonomy at a price of 10-12 thousand rubles. Alternative options not as many as we would like, but they are there.

    Meizu MX6

    When did the MX6 come out? Russian market and they asked for 28 thousand rubles for it, the first thought was “who needs you anyway?” For almost 30 thousand it was already possible to take aim at much more thoroughbred and fast models, and the beautiful “shovel” with a cheap processor without outstanding features did not impress with anything against this background.

    But the Chinese are selling this same Meizu for 12 thousand, and this, as they say in Odessa, is two big differences. Because the display in Meizu is slightly brighter than in Redmi Note 4, the processor is the same, and the cameras are much better. Autonomy is approximately at the same level as that of Xiaomi, the sound in headphones without tuning is better than in Redmi, with tuning it is worse. There are no problems with firmware (that is, there are, but they can be easily solved), Russian cell phone ranges LTE networks supported at Band 3 and Band 7. You can take it.

    LeEco Le S3 X522

    Offering a Xiaomi fan to buy a LeEco instead is like giving a pink Volga to a lover of American muscle cars. But after Smart Orange unwraps your package at customs, you may change your mind.

    In general, LeEco has not been doing very well lately - just look, it will go to hell due to the fact that the costs of promotion were significantly higher than the profits from sales of mobile phones and TVs. Specialists who had previously joined the company from JD and Lenovo “fled” from the Russian LeEco - is the trend clear?

    But we are not buying a painting by a classic artist in order to predict several years in advance whether it will be valuable, so we will not delve into the jungle. Let's dive deeper into the new LeEco model - Le S3. Well, like new, this is a “rethought” Le 2, from which custom (“amateur”) firmware is even suitable for the new model.

    A slightly more advanced smartphone than the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Pro in terms of hardware - Snapdragon 652 (vs. 650 in Xiaomi), a slightly more elegant-looking body and more bright screen. Disadvantages - sound quality in headphones, less endurance, amputated headphone jack (as an alternative, there is an adapter with USB Type-C). Well, the rear camera is worse. That is, not “so-so” like the Redmi Note 4, but “bad”.

    But it’s still a good smartphone that “bangs all the money” in benchmarks and in real use, and it costs only 9-10 thousand with full Russification and good characteristics. Who knows, whether the reliability of budget LeEco has improved since the days of Le 2, but outside of Xiaomi and Meizu, no more sensible alternative comes to mind in the same class of devices.

    Option to replace Xiaomi Mi Max

    I don’t envy fans of “shovel phones” - there are already few smartphones with near-tablet display diagonals, and Mi Max among them is one of the best and certainly the best in terms of price/quality/autonomy ratio, if we are talking about

    Chinese prices. But all this is lyrics, and here we have “counterfeit” products, so here are options for large-sized, high-quality smartphones costing 13-18 thousand rubles.

    ZTE Nubia Z11 Max

    A little popular phablet, but in vain. Yes, it doesn't have the wow factor of the standard bezel-less Z11, and it doesn't even have the audiophile chip of the 5.5-inch model. But this is the only model in the “6 or more inches” category with a price of up to 20 thousand rubles, which cannot be called a “budget bucket”. Not counting Mi Max, of course.

    ZTE Nubia Z11 Max

    At the same time, Nubia cannot be called cheap either - it looks much cooler and more expensive than Xiaomi, the proprietary shell is also beautiful, the characteristics are about the same (Snapdragon 652, 4000 mAh, 4/64 GB), except that the display is smaller (6 inches exactly). The Russian language is already included in the firmware, there are no problems with frequency support, the quality of the cameras is about the same as in Mi Max, or even a little better. The autonomy is worse, but also not bad, and the main problem is the disgrace with software support. For a long time the owners were content with Android 5.1, and Android 6.0 came out when smartphones the same age as the Z11 Max began to update to Android 7.0 Nougat! And in general, in the case of Nubia smartphones, there are plenty of times when the developers said “come on, this phone, we changed our minds!”, and users were left with nothing, sometimes even without custom firmware at all.

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