Buying a mobile in China is a brutal savings compared to Spain. The question is whether it ends out expensive

Mobile prices They have shot themselves, a lot. The High Premium range Round the 1,500 euros, the high range of 1,000 and it is not strange to find mid -range for about 500 euros. This has fired a fever for reconditioned and used mobiles, but also opens an interesting door in a crucial market in Spain: that of Chinese phones.

Xiaomi is absolute king in Spainand manufacturers such as Vivo, Oppo and Honor Copan the Top 10. In not a few cases, these phones arrive in our country with cut -out specifications with respect to the Chinese variants.

We will try to dissipate that fog around the purchase of mobiles in its Chinese version, outside the traditional distributors that sell the European and global versions we know.

Hardware of Chinese VS European

Before delving into the purchase process, it is convenient to know what they differ (and why they do) Chinese mobiles with respect to Europeans, since it is not minor details that separate some proposals from others.

The battery. If we attend to recent releases, such as the Xiaomi 15 Ultra or the Magic7 Pro Honorthere is a key difference in the Chinese variant: it has much more battery. In Europe we receive practically the same model, but with a quite lower battery capacity. Reason? One: the costs.

In the specific case of batteries, the new generation of Silicon-carbon with capacities of 6,000 or more milliamps hour It is especially expensive. Chinese manufacturers sell at a price in their native country, but import telephones to Spain has numerous costs related to transport, fees and taxes.

Xiaomi herself recognized us that, if they wanted to continue bringing mobiles without raising prices, They had to cut off somewhere.

The software. This is not the only difference we find and, sometimes, the Software differences They are especially relevant. This is the case of Vivo, who sells its phones with A -Ecuchos in Europe and with origin in his native country.

OnePlus does the same with Oxygenos In Europe and color in China (although, for practical purposes, they are exactly the same), and Huawei is the most extreme case of all. In Europe, Emui, in China its own operating system, Harmonyos.

In addition to not having Google services in China, these software differences can generate important incompatibilities with mobile payment services through NFC, and even HDR content reproduction in Netflix, since there are certain Google certificates that are not available in Chinese variants.

The camera. Although camera hardware is usually identical regardless of the mobile version we buy, the image process is usually quite different. Manufacturers adapt how to process the final photography depending on the market to which the phone is intended. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes not so much.

This is the case of the living X200 Pro, whose Chinese version Take better photographs than the global Hardware equality.

Connectivity. If you buy a mobile in its Chinese version, you may suffer some problems related to connectivity. Yes, all 5G Chinese mobiles can use 5G in Spain, but there is a fact to take into account: bands. In China the same 5G bands are not used, and you may end up buying a phone that lacks crucial bands.

What are these bands for? Mainly, so that you have good coverage in complicated areas, such as rural or interior. Some of the most used bands in Spain are not used in China.

Mobile payments. Paying with the mobile is a basic, and some mobile phones with Chinese rom have serious problems to get it in Spain. This is due to the lack of native Google services and certification problems such as Play Integrity API.

How much we save buying the mobile in China

If the question is how much it saves buying a mobile directly from China the question is … big money. Technically at this price we should add VAT and customs costs. The reality is that Chinese stores are responsible for adjusting the customs statement so that we do not have to pay (generally) nothing extra. Even if you have to pay an extra tax, it would continue to account.

In some cases, buying the mobile from China costs almost half, a very point to take into account if we are willing to face the small inconveniences we have mentioned above.

The questions to be asked when buying a mobile from China

Well, we already know that a mobile purchased in China will arrive with Chinese Rom (yes, sellers usually pre -installed Google services so you can use all your apps without problem), which you may miss any band (something you can check in your list of Specs), which you will save a lot of money and may what you are buying is even better than the global model. Now it’s time to answer some extra questions.

How long does a mobile take from China? This will depend completely on the store and its shipping method, but this has ceased to be a problem for years. If the store is solvent you can have the mobile at home in less than a week. In the worst case, the waiting time is usually two to three weeks.

What guarantee does a telephone bought in China have? If you buy a mobile outside the European Union, the guarantee depends completely on the seller. In recent years, most stores have put the batteries, and offer repair guarantees between one and two years. Of course, we will pay the shipping costs, and sending to China is not especially cheap.

What version am I buying? Depending on the version we buy, the phone will have hardware and software characteristics. For example, if we buy an Xiaomi with Global Rom from China, we will have a phone with the best of the European version at a much lower price. If we buy the version with Chinese ROM, we will have a phone with an English system and some problems.

It should always be assured which exact version we are buying the product to avoid surprises.

Is a Chinese mobile updated? Yes, even if you are in Spain, your mobile will follow the same rhythm of updates of the corresponding ROM. In general, it is usually similar to that of European Roms, although some oriented to local characteristics will not be too useful.

Image | Xataka

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