So are modern Western cars - and arguably also phones.
If I'm forced to drive in a bug-riddled impossible-to-repair privacy-invading spaceship either way, why would I go for the overpriced outdated Western one rather than the affordable innovative Chinese one?
I would prefer a boring 2000s car with an electric drivetrain, but it's not like anyone is making them...
About privacy invasion, it works for all countries in the world.
Vendor-lock is quite high, possibly higher in the US.
Look at iPhone, hardware is behind, restricted, unauditable privacy and questionable software in terms of performance (especially starting iOS 26, where you lost the choice for Liquid Glass).
Impossible to reasonably sync AirPods or watches, Macbook or choose the firmware version.
In comparison, the irony is that China offers the freedom (like with Qwen).
On these supposedly evil Chinese devices (phones, headphones, watches, etc), you have an open platform with great hardware, that you can modify as much as you want, and the only people who restrict you is... Google (making sure you cannot root without losing to important apps, so technically you can root, but practically you can't).
All the claims about "China = bad hardware and bad software" were true 20 years ago, but this is not the case anymore.
That being said, should certainly be quite cautious about default setup... you have US surveillance, PLUS, Chinese surveillance.
open platform? what Chinese phones have as easily unlockable bootloader as pixels? thanks for info
btw after one pixel with swollen battery I'm never buying one again, but I have to admit they have great cameras, reasonable dimensions and easily unlockable bootloader, sadly it's wrote pointless with faulty unreliable hardware and shit bare bone software
their phones are second rate to what - pixels with exploding batteries and faulty displays or Samsungs unable to fix their slow quality cameras for the last decade? sorry, if I want the best overall Android phone the choice nowadays is clear
as for the cars, I'd agree maybe compared to most western brands, but the question is whether is worth paying 30-100% extra for only slightly better western car
Have had two Xiaomi phones in a row, I don't see the second rate.
My in law has a BYD Seagull, fail to see how it lags compared to similarly priced cars.
Chinese cars are incredibly popular in Europe, because they are better cars at the same price tag, even the more expensive ones.
I think it's asinine to think their high end manufacturing is crap, keeps us non competitive, let alone ignoring most of our stuff or large parts of it already comes from China.
And it has nothing to do with wages, modern high end manufacturing is highly automated and skilled engineers are as expensive as in southern or central Europe.
I would need some source that Chinese cars are sold at a loss outside China, because I seriously doubt it.
It's like those people thinking Aliexpress/Temu products are subsidized by Chinese gov, not realizing that Ali/Temu is extremely expensive and you can buy products there for like 1/2 - 1/10th of their price in Chinese online shops (especially Pinduoduo), people claiming China is subsidizing this and that don't realize how cheap is to produce products. Been in China last summer, bought 4 big suitcases full of things mostly from Pinduoduo.
Comments
Their cars and phones are still second rate. They are, however, cheap enough to be good value.
So are modern Western cars - and arguably also phones.
If I'm forced to drive in a bug-riddled impossible-to-repair privacy-invading spaceship either way, why would I go for the overpriced outdated Western one rather than the affordable innovative Chinese one?
I would prefer a boring 2000s car with an electric drivetrain, but it's not like anyone is making them...
About privacy invasion, it works for all countries in the world.
Vendor-lock is quite high, possibly higher in the US.
Look at iPhone, hardware is behind, restricted, unauditable privacy and questionable software in terms of performance (especially starting iOS 26, where you lost the choice for Liquid Glass).
Impossible to reasonably sync AirPods or watches, Macbook or choose the firmware version.
In comparison, the irony is that China offers the freedom (like with Qwen).
On these supposedly evil Chinese devices (phones, headphones, watches, etc), you have an open platform with great hardware, that you can modify as much as you want, and the only people who restrict you is... Google (making sure you cannot root without losing to important apps, so technically you can root, but practically you can't).
All the claims about "China = bad hardware and bad software" were true 20 years ago, but this is not the case anymore.
That being said, should certainly be quite cautious about default setup... you have US surveillance, PLUS, Chinese surveillance.
open platform? what Chinese phones have as easily unlockable bootloader as pixels? thanks for info
btw after one pixel with swollen battery I'm never buying one again, but I have to admit they have great cameras, reasonable dimensions and easily unlockable bootloader, sadly it's wrote pointless with faulty unreliable hardware and shit bare bone software
What have you tried so far on a daily basis to say this?
Have you tried latest Huawei models?
By the way, Foxconn makes iPhones, does it count as Chinese quality or not?
their phones are second rate to what - pixels with exploding batteries and faulty displays or Samsungs unable to fix their slow quality cameras for the last decade? sorry, if I want the best overall Android phone the choice nowadays is clear
as for the cars, I'd agree maybe compared to most western brands, but the question is whether is worth paying 30-100% extra for only slightly better western car
Have had two Xiaomi phones in a row, I don't see the second rate.
My in law has a BYD Seagull, fail to see how it lags compared to similarly priced cars.
Chinese cars are incredibly popular in Europe, because they are better cars at the same price tag, even the more expensive ones.
I think it's asinine to think their high end manufacturing is crap, keeps us non competitive, let alone ignoring most of our stuff or large parts of it already comes from China.
And it has nothing to do with wages, modern high end manufacturing is highly automated and skilled engineers are as expensive as in southern or central Europe.
Chinese cars are exactly same story as Japanese and Korean cars, first they ignored them, then they laughed at them, then they won
Chinese cars were sold at a loss until very recently, though, and now they are struggling. So it's a bit different than Japan and Korea.
I would need some source that Chinese cars are sold at a loss outside China, because I seriously doubt it.
It's like those people thinking Aliexpress/Temu products are subsidized by Chinese gov, not realizing that Ali/Temu is extremely expensive and you can buy products there for like 1/2 - 1/10th of their price in Chinese online shops (especially Pinduoduo), people claiming China is subsidizing this and that don't realize how cheap is to produce products. Been in China last summer, bought 4 big suitcases full of things mostly from Pinduoduo.