Importing Electronics — Is it worth it?

Be it phones, laptops, or computer parts, buying imported electronics can be appealing. Not only can it be much cheaper, but you gain access to worldwide variety that you can’t find locally! For example, here in Singapore, we can’t pick up ARM Windows laptops, Apple HomePod Minis, Kindle Basics, Xiaomi Android TV sticks… the list goes on!

But what are the potential issues with importing tech? Is it “just the warranty”?

What are the possible issues?

1. Are the devices truly the same?

Let’s say both devices are available locally and abroad. On the surface, the difference might seem only price and warranty deep, they share the same model name doesn’t it? But research is key as there might be more differences than one might think. These differences can be in hardware, software, or both. Software differences may not be easily bypassed too.

Smartphones for example typically have a combination of both. An impactful difference of hardware are network frequencies support. Your country might not support the same network frequencies as the imported phone’s country. Heck, even within that country, different carriers might not share the same frequencies and have different models for each carrier.

Oh USA.

We typically refer to these frequencies as 4G or 5G Bands and label them with numbers (Example: Band 5, Band 17, Band 41 etc)

If the imported phone does not support the frequencies your network uses, you won’t have a mobile connection. If your newly imported phone shares a subset of those frequencies, you might experience a spotty connection in some areas. This may or may not be an issue, as the unsupported frequencies might not be important to you, such as 5G or a frequency more designed to for fast network speed at short distances.

Either way, a subset of frequency support means a sub-par coverage experience.

Typically, most phones in South East Asia share common frequency bands, however North America tends to use more exclusive 4G bands and requires more research.

The easiest way to check is to use a site like FrequencyCheck to view the different phone variants, its band support, and compare with the network you use. This site does not have everything, but you can always use the manufacturer’s website and compare with your local network.

The list of possible hardware differences for phones goes on.

A non exhaustive list is as follows:

Samsung famously uses Qualcomm processors in North America and their own Exynos chipset for other regions. (To be fair, some consider getting a Qualcomm chip a plus.)
Apple has no SIM slot for iPhone 14s in the States, relying purely on eSIM. On the other hand, most iPhones sold in China, HK, and Maccau have physical dual sim slots and no e-sim support.
Korea devices generally differ from the rest of Asia with their phones only having a single sim slot.

Some phone models have the sin of the same name but are actually different devices. Xiaomi (Redmi Note 12 (China), Redmi Note 12 (International)) , Oppo (Reno 8 (China), Reno 8 (International)) are offenders of that sin, with the Reno lineup and the Redmi lineup having confusing and conflicting names.

These kind of hardware differences don’t just apply to phones either, each category of device might have some small, but impactful differences.

For example, smart gadgets that plug into the wall might also not support the electricity voltage your region uses (230V vs 120V.)

Japan Keyboard (Psiĥedelisto on Wikipedia)

Laptops can have different keyboards layouts depending on the region you buy it from. Even if both regions use QWERTY, there are slight differences in keyboard layout. For example, Europe, India, typically use ISO layout keyboards, which have big enter keys. Japan uses the ASEI layout, but has additional buttons beside the space bar.

IEC 60320 Standard

Different wall plugs also can require an adapter that adds a bit of bulk. You might be able to switch the power cable, but there are rare cases where the adapter doesn’t use a standard that allows you to swap the cable easily.

2. Are there Software Locks or issues?

Identical hardware does not mean identical software either.

On more “open” tech, such as computers, computer parts, and their related accessories, this tends not to be an issue. USB typically is USB, no matter the country.

However, on more locked down stuff like smartphones and smart tech, it can get a bit iffy.

On smartphones, the list of possible quirks, locks and differences are vast. Here are a few notable ones.

SIM Locking. The phone might be locked to a specific network. Just make sure it says on the product page that it is “Unlocked” and you should be golden.
On Android, “special” network functions like 5G, VOLTE might be locked to “approved networks”. What is approved? You gotta try and google to find out. This may be bypass able with root and a lot of trickery, but don’t bet on it.
In some regions on Android (mostly the US, Japan), sometimes you won’t get easy over the air updates unless you have the original carrier’s sim card.
On Samsung devices, you are only allowed to use Samsung Pay in the region you bought your device.
On Android, you might be limited to a select few languages for arbitrary reasons. However, English is usually an option.
From phones bought in Korea and Japan, you cannot disable the shutter sound even on silent mode. On iOS 15 and Samsung with One UI 4 and newer, it is disabled when it detects a non-local SIM card.
You’ll likely get carrier bloatware pre-installed (which may not be in your language.) Some can’t be disabled.
Sometimes the phone will say you are constantly roaming, and always have the local clock on the lock screen like LG.

Some of these issues aren’t big issues, or can be disabled with ease. Others might require with a bit of commands to disable, but the remainder are harder to remove as they are integrated deep into the system.

For smart devices, some of them can be region locked or only support being assigned to a region’s network. XiaoMi Home devices are an offender in this category. Additionally, some smart devices are programmed only with its origin language installed.

For Windows devices sold in China, they typically have a single language license for Windows, and thus do not allow language changes without a reinstall of Windows or upgrading the license.

3. Is it stuck in the China Ecosystem?

As most (if not all) western services like Google, Amazon Alexa, HomeKit, are either blocked or rarely used in China, do not expect them to support those services if you import devices from China unless it explicitly says it supports it.

Additionally, if the product uses China services, it likely only has servers located in China. Thus, it can be slow due to the network speed, region’s distance, and the provider they use (optimised for China, not really for those outside)

4. Does it have a warranty?

What about the warranty?

When you are using a device outside of the region it was bought from, there are generally 3 types of warranties.

Manufacture International Warranty
Traveler’s International Warranty
“Sellers” Warranty
None. Local only Warranty.

International Warranty

Some manufacturers, such as Apple and Lenovo, offer international warranty on most of their products. In such cases, if anything goes wrong, you likely can head over to their repair center and send it for repair! However, this typically only applies to products that are also available locally, otherwise, they might not have parts for them, have to order them in, or not have the expertise to perform the repair.

Other manufacturers may not offer a warranty claim in your area, but you might be able to ship it back to their headquarters in another country for them to process the RMA for you.

However, this likely requires you to pay for the shipping and processing, which can be very expensive.

Either way, do a quick Google on the product and the manufacturer.

Some devices do offer an international warranty upgrade if you pay more too!

Traveler’s Warranty

Do not get mistaken, it is not the same as an International Warranty. These types of warranties, such as provided by Acer, require you to provide proof that you are repairing it while you are currently on your travels. That is, the region you bought it from is where you live normally. If you are importing such products from overseas, this doesn’t really apply to you and your mileage of getting it repaired under this coverage will vary.

Seller’s Warranty

If you buy the product from a local importer, or an overseas seller that has specialized in selling exported electronics, you might be covered under their local warranty.

However, this route might have some resistance, as it requires them to ship it back to the origin country and get it repaired.

For local sellers who import it for you, it’s typically easier to communicate with them and they are more privy to local laws and claims, but they might not want to do it due to the costs.

However, for international sellers, prepare to pay for shipping both ways and experience communication woes. Shipping devices can be very expensive, sometimes to the point where it doesn’t make fincacial sense. Communication is also generally harder due to language barriers.

Additionally, they are not under inclined to help you out as the review period for the device is typically over and doing a claim or suing over borders is difficult.

If it has no warranty… what if it breaks on arrival?

As long as you aren’t using an unofficial forwarder, you are typically covered for this. The safest thing to do is to film the unboxing of the parcel to the product and all the basic testing. That way, you have “proof” that something was broken on arrival. If you are buying it from a seller who handled the shipping themselves (i.e. not a forwarder service), they’ll typically cover it for you and send you a new one.

5. Is it actually cheaper?

Are they shipping locally? Does the listed price include import taxes? Some sites like Amazon, who facilitate in shipping, will clearly calculate and display the import taxes for you. Others, do not.

This isn’t always the case with other sites. Some sites, such as Singapore Qoo10, will also tack on an additional cost for helping you handle tax. Other sites will require you to pay tax and require collection at the post office.

These costs add up… Thus, check around other local sellers to see if they have a better price… It might even be better than the export set, or they import it in bulk and get a better price!

TL;DR Research is key

Buying devices outside of their intended region means that it’s likely not designed for it. Thus, do a bit of research before buying it!