T-Mobile based virtual carrier said on February 1, 2016 that it was the first U.S. carrier , who can legitimately sell Xiaomi and Meizu phones due to its relationship with the authorized Xiaomi and Meizu distributors.
But this did not go well with both T-Mobile as well as Xiaomi. The company then released a statement and said, “Recent reports have indicated that Xiaomi products will be available in the U.S. Xiaomi only offers a small selection of accessories for sale in the U.S. through Mi.com”. The statement added, “There are no plans to sell smartphones through any authorized distributors in the U.S. US Mobile is not authorized to sell Xiaomi products in the U.S.”
On the other hand there are also reports that T-Mobile also wants to phones through extra certification processes. But T-Mobile then needs to accept any compatible, unlocked GSM phone and is still not required to sell wholesale minutes to US mobile.
On February 2, 2016 US mobile has removed all the Xiaomi and Meizu phones from its line up that it had added the previous day. Meanwhile US Mobile is yet to comment on the issue. Xiaomi is considered as the fifth biggest smartphone vendor in terms of market share.
Photo Credits: head-fi
