The European market has been guarded for years by the great ones "of all life", I am talking about brands that today enjoy a very comfortable position Due to their years behind their backs and therefore the reputation they have amassed, examples of these companies are Apple, Samsung, Sony, LG, etc ...
But new movements seem to indicate that this comfort may end for many of these companies, and it is that the big brands of Chinese origin, which there have a reputation comparable to Apple here, movements are starting to expand into Europe, brands as recognized as Meizu or Xiaomi herself.
It is true that perhaps Apple is not the one that has to fear the most, since their products differ too much from those that these companies offer by not being based on Android, however we have already seen how in China Xiaomi and Apple have large parts of the market and they fight from you to you, and if we add to this the competitiveness in prices and the good care that brands such as Xiaomi or Meizu have of their products, we could have a combination that changes the current paradigm in the European market.
First steps towards the European market
This could not be considered "new" news because Meizu, one of the big companies that is going to enter Europe, has already been in the process of expanding to our country for 1 year, it all started with The Phone House, they managed to reach an agreement thanks to which through an authorized distributor and a remodeling of some of its products oriented to the international market (reissue of manuals, international Android ROM, necessary certifications, etc ...), after all this Meizu finally this year has started to sell its terminals officially in Spain, official guarantees, authorized distributors, official support, certifications, Meizu already has its own online store up and running and little by little it will begin to market all its models in their international versions with official guarantee, a move that given the quality of its products and the competitiveness of their prices (which here will be somewhat more expensive than in China due to the extra cost) will jeopardize that comfort in companies such as Samsung, Sony or LG, companies that until now have seen their smartphones as the only Android flagships that people were willing to buy.
Xiaomi on the other hand, has recently started, it all started with the Yi Camera, a camera that follows the idea of GoPro but with a much tighter cost and non-reprehensible specifications, Xiaomi began to manufacture and market an international version of it with plugs corresponding to the country of destination, multilanguage manuals and the corresponding certifications necessary for sell legally, but it seems that it will not stop there, and it is that the moment that many of us have been waiting for years is coming, Xiaomi is allowing large distributors to reserve (not buy) their terminals in international models, something which indicates the imminent appearance of this brand on the European market.
Expanding has a cost
Of course the expansion to our market will have a cost, we do not know with certainty if prices will rise a lot or everything will be done so that costs do not rise excessively and thus maintain that key competitiveness, what is clear is that prices will differ between Europe and ChinaHowever, Meizu is an example of what can happen, last year the Meizu PRO 5 was the most powerful Android smartphone on the market, and it was officially sold in Spain through its website for about € 550, a more adjusted price than those that in their day had the Galaxy S6, the iPhone 6, and the rest of the flagships of each company.
Why is it a danger to Apple?
When it finally happens, as it will happen, Apple will have a competition that sells terminals at the height of its most powerful smartphones at a starting price of practically half, as is the case of the Mi 5, a terminal with the new Qualcomm chip, the Snapdragon 820, which can be found for around € 350, cheaper even than the new iPhone SE.
Here then, it is most likely that Xiaomi or Meizu terminals will prevail over those of Samsung, LG or Sony due to their prices and sharing characteristics, and the only field where Apple can compete will be in the difference, not having Android or Qualcomm processors is what allows Apple to be Apple and not just another company in the market, and it is very possible that only this will keep the company in its position, since those of us who are Apple fans We know that the difference is too great to consider a close rivalry, yes, it is very likely that such leading terminals and in such low price ranges will eat up a lot of sales, and although they surely channel more to other brands, I doubt that Apple can afford close your eyes to this danger.
Conclusion
So, when the day arrives and these two great companies settle in our country and throughout Europe, we will see a radical change where Xiaomi and Meizu devices will be very common on the streets, where people will not buy more terminals with ridiculous specifications at € 100/150 having instead smartphones like the Meizu M3 or Xiaomi Redmire 3, and where the flagships of the Android market will have to adjust their prices more if they want to rival these big ones, even Apple will have to be careful with price increases like the one suffered by the iPhone 6s, these increases could cost customers going to a competition that In my opinion it provides a very good user experience and according to the surveys it also gives a great level of satisfaction.
The question is no longer if they will arrive, but when, and everything indicates that by the end of 2017 we will already have these two greats well established in our country.