Beware if you buy Xiaomi Mi drone

The Xiaomi Mi Drone is a collaboration of Xiaomi and another company, Flymi, which is also based in China.

The Xiaomi Mi drone was introduced in late May 2016, a three-axis gimbal, 4K camera, and a remote control that uses your Mi smartphone as its viewfinder.The 4K version retails at 2,999 yuan (just under $460), while the 1080p model is priced at 2,499 yuan ($380).

Thanks to mainstream online marketplaces as well as wholesale marketplaces based around exporting Chinese products, eager buyers outside mainland China will still be able to get a Xiaomi Mi Drone delivered to their door.

Xiaomi currently offers a limited range of products for American buyers in its online store: some headphones, a car charger, and a “summer treat package” that includes a USB reading light and personal cooling fan. Notably, the company’s globally popular smartphones — which it sold 71 million of 2015 — were left out. Without the distribution partnerships and patents that would allow it to take hold in the U.S. market, it’ll be a while before Xiaomi is able to directly sell its main products to American consumers.

The Xiaomi Mi Drone will probably face similar impediments as its smartphone. (DJI, meanwhile, holds around 40 patents in the United States and is on the shelves of many big-box stores.)

Americans hankering for electronics that aren’t sold officially by their manufacturers can turn instead to the third-party sellers on online marketplaces like Amazon, Banggood, and AliExpress. When the Xiaomi Mi drone goes up for sale, it could very well be available on these platforms.

But beware: buying foreign electronics from random middlemen sometimes come with a host of pitfalls. Chinese electronics are made for use in that country — meaning they aren’t likely to be supported in the United States, and they’ll be configured in Chinese rather than English. Plus, it’s hard to know what you’re really getting from these everything-goes platforms. The 2015 plague of exploding hoverboards was one symptom of this vast, unchecked global market, where counterfeits and pirated products abound.

Will you buy the Xiaomi Mi Drone and where will you get?

 

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