Do you know: Xiaomi telephones have been offered within the US for at some point

For one short-lived second in 2016, Xiaomi smartphones have been that can be purchased from a US service. Not via some sketchy importer or Amazon itemizing — we’re speaking about an actual wi-fi supplier, with issues like plans and warranties. US Cellular, a small MVNO that runs on T-Cellular’s community, briefly added Xiaomi and Meizu telephones to its on-line storefront and declared itself the primary official US service to promote them.

That lasted a couple of day, adopted by some awkward press statements and hasty backpedaling. With each Xiaomi and T-Cellular making dissenting noises, US Cellular was shortly compelled to reverse its daring transfer and yank them offline virtually instantly.

Questioning the way it occurred? Right here’s a easy rundown of how the grand plan shortly went off the rails.

Xiaomi is a family title and a significant smartphone participant in areas like Europe, India, and China. It’s constructed a repute for promoting feature-packed telephones at strikingly low costs — suppose flagship-tier specs for mid-range cash. In 2025, that successful formulation has helped the model soar to a constant third place in quarterly smartphone gross sales, behind solely Apple and Samsung.

However within the US, it’s a distinct story. Xiaomi has by no means formally launched a smartphone right here, and for those who’ve walked right into a service retailer, you’re not going to search out one subsequent to the most recent iPhone or Galaxy gadget. A part of the rationale comes right down to the way in which telephones are offered within the US. The service mannequin dominates, with telephones usually offered by way of financing offers, trade-in affords, and generally a little bit of service bloatware baked in. For a producer like Xiaomi, which thrives on tight margins, that stage of customization and partnership agreements will not be definitely worth the effort.

Then there’s the difficulty of compatibility. Many Xiaomi telephones don’t help all of the 4G and 5G bands utilized by US networks, particularly T-Cellular and Verizon. That may result in patchy service or restricted speeds. Mix that with Xiaomi’s MIUI software program, which places a heavy pores and skin over Android and isn’t to everybody’s style, and it’s straightforward to see why US carriers may not be keen to leap in. And whereas Xiaomi hasn’t been focused fairly like HUAWEI, the political local weather hasn’t precisely made issues simpler for Chinese language tech manufacturers attempting to broaden within the US.

Nonetheless, that hasn’t stopped US patrons from taking an curiosity. Many US tech followers see Xiaomi telephones as providing wonderful worth, and a few have been prepared to import them, regardless of the restricted community help and lack of guarantee. You’ll discover loads of international fashions listed on Amazon within the States. In that context, US Cellular’s temporary stunt in 2016 wasn’t simply daring — it tapped into an actual, unmet demand.

On January 12, 2016, US Cellular launched its new on-line retailer, which included a number of Xiaomi and Meizu telephones. It marked the primary time a US service was providing Xiaomi and Meizu telephones to prospects, with US Cellular promising help for setting them up on its pay as you go plans.

Technically, US Cellular wasn’t promoting the telephones immediately. Its on-line market was a platform that allowed third-party distributors to supply units appropriate with US Cellular’s community. The corporate framed this as a solution to give prospects extra selection, even when the telephones weren’t formally accredited by US Cellular or the manufacturers themselves.

That nuance wasn’t sufficient to keep away from bother. Inside a day, Xiaomi publicly distanced itself from the transfer, saying in an announcement that US Cellular was “not approved to promote Xiaomi merchandise within the US.” The corporate expressed confusion about how the telephones have been sourced and made it clear it had no partnership with the service.

To complicate issues additional, T-Cellular, whose community US Cellular depends on, reportedly requested the MVNO to drag the telephones whereas they have been being examined for community compatibility. US Cellular complied, taking down the listings virtually instantly and posting a quick weblog replace that vaguely defined the telephones had been eliminated. It acknowledged, “We are going to proceed to work with our enabling carriers to attempt to certify these telephones on their community.”

That was the top of it. There was no relaunch, no official partnership, and no Xiaomi comeback. US Cellular’s experiment was over virtually as quickly because it began, leaving solely a handful of archived information tales and confused tech followers in its wake. Xiaomi nonetheless sells loads of devices within the US, however almost a decade later, you continue to gained’t discover its telephones on any US service cabinets.