Xiaomi and Meizu phones officially land in the US through US Mobile (update)

For a few good quarters now, Xiaomi and Meizu, two of the largest smartphone makers in China, have expressed their ambitions to expand to the US smartphone market, and today the two companies scored a major milestone in the form of a carrier partnership.

Until a few hours ago, the only way that you could get your hands on a new Xiaomi or Meizu smartphone in the US was to import one, which usually implied giving up support and accepting a shady (or non-existent) warranty agreement. US Mobile has fixed both of these setbacks, as the Xiaomi and Meizu phones get both support from the carrier and a one-year warranty from the importer. Furthermore, the phones are sold unlocked.

As value-for-money brands, Xiaomi and Meizu make affordable smartphones, but US Mobile is also offering equipment installment plans on all these new additions to its online web store. This payment option involves signing up for one of US Mobile's plans, which future subscribers can create themselves depending on their needs.

Unfortunately, the Xiaomi and Meizu smartphones sold by US Mobile are not compatible with US LTE bands, which means that users won't be able to take advantage of high-speed mobile connections in the areas where these are available.

In the future, US Mobile says that future devices might get support for the LTE bands in the US. Before this can happen, however, Xiaomi and Meizu need to start making smartphone variants with North American LTE radios, a move some industry watchers say is expected to take place by the end of the year.

The phones now on sale at US Mobile include the Xiaomi Mi 4i for $219, the Meizu M2 Note for $149, the Xiaomi Mi 3 for $139, and the Xiaomi Redmi 2 for $119. If this is the first time you're hearing about these phones are willing to sacrifice LTE connectivity, here's your chance to learn more about the value-for-money phones that proved to be extremely popular in Asia:

source: US Mobile