Opinion: Why buying smartphones through official channels matter

One of the frequent questions we are asked is why we don't include brands like Le, Motorola, Nexus/Pixel or flagship LG phones in our list of the best smartphones available in Nepal. Followers of our page text us asking about smartphones of these brands. But we usually don’t suggest them to buy smartphones from those brands. We don’t have any hatred against Google, Motorola or LG. It's just that these smartphones aren’t officially available here in Nepal. Read More: Price of all smartphones in Nepal Why should that matter, you ask? Well, simply because you can’t claim any warranty if you buy these products. Drop your phone once and you will have to empty your pocket in an instant. Take Huawei and Samsung as examples. These companies have a broad presence in the Nepali smartphone market. Their smartphones are available for buying through official channels. So, if you buy a defective smartphone or have any software issues, the service centers of these companies will happily repair your unit through official technicians, or even replace it with a new one.

Take this as an example: a friend of mine had to pay over Rs, 15,000 for replacing her Xiaomi Mi3 display a while back. Note that this was the time when the smartphone wasn't officially available in Nepal. Buying smartphones from the grey market should be avoided as well. Smartphone manufacturers never honor warranty offers of devices that have been brought into a country via illegal means or via unofficial channels. So, you'll end up having to pay loads of money for a simple repair of your device. Some service centers even refuse to mend devices if the fact that a smartphone was bought illegally comes into light.

[Note: Please stop buying anything from the grey market. While it might seem like you have saved a few bucks, on a long run it could haunt you. Grey marketers sell refurbished or previously used smartphones claiming they are new.]

Yes, sometimes we face a bit of a hustle when the phone we just bought gives up on us. But hey, at least we have a void warranty that covers the cost of its repair.