Xiaomi started blocking "gray" smartphones in some countries

Users have started reporting sudden blockages of Xiaomi's "gray" smartphones.

What happened?

In the range of the manufacturer there are models that are not sold outside the Celestial Empire. Of the new products can be recalled Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro and Xiaomi Mix 4. But there are states in which no Xiaomi technology is officially available. And so in such countries, the company began to block smartphones.

The first resident of Cuba wrote about it on Reddit. He told a well-known story of how people travel around the world buy phones and then resell them in their homeland. Such smartphones work during several days, after which the screen appears a message with the following text:

"Xiaomi policy does not allow selling the product in the territory where you tried to activate it. Please contact the seller directly for more information."

So far, only relatively new smartphones have been reported blocked by owners. For example, the Redmi 9T and Redmi Note 10S, which were announced in January and March this year, respectively. How massive the problem is, it's hard to say, but more than two dozen cases are already known in Cuba alone.

Xiaomi isn't blocking all smartphones in a row. On Reddit and XDA Developers users write about the normal operation of a number of models, including the aforementioned Redmi Note 10S, which were purchased in the United States, Europe or India. However, it is recommended to install custom firmware by unlocking the bootloader beforehand to avoid locking.

Now what?

We'd like to point out right away that you shouldn't get worried. In addition to Cuba, residents of Syria, Iran, Sudan and North Korea have reported that their smartphones have been blocked. All of these countries are united by the fact that no Xiaomi appliances are officially sold there at all. The company's website also lists Crimea.

In our region such problems with "gray" equipment are not expected. Although at the beginning of this year the company decided to tighten the screws a bit by blocking the installation of Google Mobile Services on Chinese versions of smartphones.

Source: XDA Developers, Reddit, Xiaomi, Xiaomi Adictos