Earlier I'd visited a middle-aged analyst at a think tank who explained that his generation had sought out cheaper brands but teenagers saw things very differently.
He claimed that industrial designers at Foxconn had come up with four possible designs for the latest phone, and then Apple had chosen one. What confused us on Electronics Street was whether all the shops selling well-known brands were entirely legitimate.
We went into one store with an Apple logo and staff all wearing the same blue polo-shirts and had a look at the products. The store was advertising the iPhone 5 - not yet officially on sale in China - and had a dummy model with the kind of fake screen you see on cheaper phones in UK stores.
An iPad on display looked somehow subtly different from the real thing, and when we tried to film the outside of the store the manager came onto the pavement and put his hand over the lens. In some parts of the world Apple is fiercely protective of its intellectual property, but it may have decided that closing down all of Shenzhen's "Apple Stores" - apart from the one genuine outlet - is just too much bother.
A cavernous building filled with tiny stalls selling every imaginable electronic component may offer a more genuine experience - as long as you are prepared to bargain. Anyone expert enough - and sufficiently skilled at haggling - could emerge with the parts needed to build a computer for very little.
I'm hopeless at that, so managed to pay about the same for a micro SD card as I would at home. ET India Inc. ET Engage. ET Secure IT. Auto Auto News. Auto Components. Products Durables. Energy Power. Services Advertising. Writankar Mukherjee. Rate Story. Font Size Abc Small. Abc Medium. Abc Large.
Reuters Container charges have surged to a record high of five-six times since the advent of the pandemic. This has hit supplies of components ahead of the crucial festival season in India.
Read More News on china port china covid covid covid curb electronics companies india china. Investing Bad bet or value buy? Subscribe to ETPrime. Fifth, instructions. Nowadays, most companies finally have translators who can communicate in English. It wasn't always so when you bought in the West, and it might not be so with your device bought in China. So, on an important part of the instructions of a fairly complicated piece of electronics, you might be left guessing.
The bottom line, if you feel you are smarter than most, richer than most and don't care much, then go ahead and buy what you like, listen to the salesmen, believe what you hear, and take it home. But if you don't bother to do your homework before buying, well, that's your choice. BTW a smart shop rarely ever listens to the salesperson in HK, or even in the US kids working part time and you listen to them?
Bought a Canon digi camera from a branch of tourist approved shops recommended by our UK based tour company. Already knew what we wanted and all about it including rough price if bought on the net. Assistant explained it fully and accurately regardless. Instruction book in English, camera set up in English launguage by assistant though we could easily have switched it ourselves , voltage the same as UK.
Assistant directed us to Canon dealer located near our hotel to swap HK warranty for International warranty - took 5 minutes. Not everyone reading this site lives in the USA , or are dimwitted. You might be surprised to realise many are seasoned travellers, experienced shoppers abroad and know exactly what to do, how to do it, where to get it and what to pay.
Guess that makes some of us "smarter than most" to quote your own phrase! This topic has been closed to new posts due to inactivity. We hope you'll join the conversation by posting to an open topic or starting a new one. We remove posts that do not follow our posting guidelines, and we reserve the right to remove any post for any reason. Skip to main content. Log in to get trip updates and message other travellers. Browse all , China topics ». Do NOT buy electronics unless you have money to burn.
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