#176. Price chaos in the smartphone market

Table of Contents

• MediaTek Dimensity 9000 and 9000+
• White, gray or ultra gray
• Seller's Warranty
• Sale of video cards
  after mining
• Conclusion

MediaTek Dimensity 9000 and 9000+

Somehow imperceptibly MediaTek became full-fledgedmarket leader. For several quarters in a row, the company has been shipping more chipsets than its closest competitor, Qualcomm. However, the triumph is not complete, as MediaTek makes the bulk of its volumes at the expense of chipsets of the middle and low price segments. So, to some extent, it was a matter of image - to present flagship-level chipsets. MediaTek Dimensity 9000+ is just that.

So, the chipset is made according to the 4 nm process technology.There is one super-performance Cortex-X2 CPU core running at 3.2 GHz, 3 performance Cortex-A710 cores (frequency 2.85 GHz) and 4 energy-efficient Cortex-A510 cores (frequency 1.8 GHz).

Dimensity 9000+ is a small chipset upgradeDimensity 9000, which was introduced a few months ago. So far, the brightest smartphone using the Dimensity 9000 remains the Honor 70 Pro+. About this smartphone is written in the text "7 main smartphones in June".

In this case, the main advantage of Dimensity9000 is that with equal performance (although it is claimed that this is the first chipset that has broken the bar of 1 million points in AnTuTu), Dimensity 9000 is slightly more energy efficient, and most importantly, more cost-effective.

It is quite clear that smartphone manufacturers will use the new MediaTek chipset if only to beat out the best conditions from Qualcomm.

So there is a good chance that in the near futurewe expect new high-profile announcements from both Qualcomm and MediaTek. Qualcomm will defend itself, trying to keep the title, if not the market leader, then at least the second main innovator in the chipset market (the first is Apple). And MediaTek, in turn, must press in order to gain a foothold. For us, as buyers, such battles are only a joy. After all, competition like nothing else stimulates the development of the industry.

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White, gray or ultra gray

Over the past couple of weeks, all the media have publishedthematic materials that parallel imports have started working on the Russian market. Add here the unprecedentedly strong ruble exchange rate, falling sales, and you get perfect chaos. If it were not for the horror of realizing the consequences, then one could say that the Russian consumer was in a fairy tale or returned to the conditional year 2007.

Demand stagnation leads to phenomenallower prices for some goods. Perhaps I’m not lying if I say that the iPhone has never been so cheap in Russia. So, on Yandex.Market, you can buy an iPhone 13 Pro Max 128 GB in the latest Alpine Green color for 84,000 rubles, which is ridiculous for the Russian market. At the start of sales in Russia, the iPhone 13 Pro Max version was asked for 109,990 rubles.

The world's most popular smartphone iPhone 13 is sold for 57,000 rubles.

Similarly, prices are falling on Xiaomi.For example, Xiaomi 11T Pro 128 GB on the Snapdragon 888 processor can be purchased for 33,000 rubles. The smartphone was launched in January this year. Its fair price is about 50 thousand rubles, depending on the amount of memory. It is for this price that it can be found on the Indian market, which was a good benchmark in terms of prices: before the outbreak of hostilities, 1 rupee was valued at 1 ruble, plus the low purchasing power of the Indian population forced manufacturers to set minimum prices. Now, the excessively strong ruble leads to unique prices.

At the same time, attempts by official retailers to keepprices lead to an incredible gap between the white and gray markets. But is it even possible to say that? After the main manufacturers left the market, there were interruptions in the supply of spare parts in service centers. Yes, and smartphones themselves are good if EAC (Eurasian conformity), which, as it were, confirms that both the seller and the manufacturer bear warranty obligations for it. But the price on the gray market is such that it is tempting to take a risk.

For example, the official price for the same Xiaomi 11TPro 128 GB from the official distributor of Xiaomi products from Marvel is 47,990 rubles. This is a good price, by the way. But the buyer has to pay almost 1.5 times more to buy a “white” smartphone.

The main plus of a “white” smartphone is a guaranteesubject to a manufacturing defect. The average percentage of marriage that is considered acceptable is 2.5%. However, in the case of monsters like Apple or Samsung, this percentage can be much lower. For example, back in the days of the iPhone 4, Apple had a 2% defect rate. Now the company operates with an indicator within 1%. Here it should be understood that we are talking about an established production. At the time of the start of sales, the percentage of marriage may be higher. In principle, smartphones have been with us for quite some time, and production is so standardized that the number of defective smartphones is constantly decreasing.

Accordingly, the average consumer is faced with a dilemma: is it necessary to pay 1.5 prices because of the likelihood of “knocking out” a cherry in the form of a smartphone that fell into 2 - 2.5% of defective ones?

The gray iPhone 13 Pro Max 128 GB, let me remind you, costs 84,000 rubles. You need to add another 56,000 rubles to buy the same smartphone in the Eldorado store. Are there volunteers?

However, the most phenomenal gapobserved in the prices of Samsung smartphones. Samsung has stopped certifying its smartphones as "Rostest", switching to a more secure version of "EAC" (Eurasian conformity). However, apparently continues to try to control prices. Along the way, it should be added here that Samsung is in the most advantageous position, since the payment option (Samsung Pay) still works out of the box on smartphones, plus there are banking applications of sanctioned banks in the Galaxy Store. In short, the most prepared phones for the domestic market.

The prices for these devices in the 512 GB version have skyrocketed. This is the official white Rostest.

Parallel imports started working in Eldorado stores. For the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra model, they ask for 118 - 136 thousand rubles, depending on the amount of memory.

For comparison, the "gray" model in the color "burgundy" and a combination of 12/256 GB is estimated at 90 thousand rubles.

By the way, about what chaos reigns in the market,says the price range of the gray sellers. Sellers are in shock, as a result, the price jumps. So, the 8/128 GB Samsung Galaxy Note Ultra model can be bought in the range from 85 to 100 thousand rubles. At the same time, as you can see, a 12/256 GB model is being sold nearby for 90 thousand rubles.

Add here that thanks to Avito, another layer of the gray market has appeared in Russia. Following the concept of the name of all cool smartphones, this layer can be called either "ultra gray" or "maximum gray".

For example, a certain Cyril declares that he carries fromKorea Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra with 512 gigabytes of memory for a ridiculous 80,000 rubles. Let me remind you that the parallel white price for such a device is 136 thousand rubles, and the "gray" price is in the range from 105 to 120 thousand rubles. And for the price of Rostest, you can buy a couple of such smartphones, and there will also be money left for revelry. By the way, Cyril is not alone. Avito has other offers for this smartphone for similar money.

It is logical that this situation will not continue for a long time.maybe because such a strong ruble is unprofitable for the government. And you won’t envy the resellers either. They carry smartphones that demand cannot keep up with. As a result, they are forced to sell at a minimal profit or at a loss. Here someone can giggle maliciously, they say, that's how they need it. But think about the fact that when such offers run out, you will have to go to the conditional "Eldorado".

No one could have predicted this, but it seems that now is the best time to upgrade your smartphone.

In passing, note that the chaos in the marketsmartphones does not apply to laptops or TVs. Unfortunately, unlike compact phones, you cannot easily bring a bunch of laptops from another country with the same ease.

However, laptops of the same Apple on Avito can be found almost at the original price. As, however, and laptops from other manufacturers. But the offer, of course, is much less than on smartphones.

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Seller's Warranty

By the way, pay attention to how it looksparallel import. "Eldorado" does not say that the product is "grayish", but only indicates opposite the product that the seller's guarantee applies here. It's interesting how Eldorado tries to cheer up customers.

Attached is a document explaining what is covered by the warranty and what is not.

Here, perhaps, only paragraph G aboutnatural wear. For example, smartphones with a flexible screen, which regularly have a stripe on the screen, immediately come to mind. Is this normal wear and tear?

Sale of video cards after mining

Another news that is being talked about all over the world: due to the collapse of the cryptocurrency market, miners began to massively sell video cards, since mining costs are not recouped.

For example, this is how a set of two GeForce RTX 3080 GAMING TRIO 10GB video cards is estimated at 200 thousand rubles.

Or here is another option where they are sold piece by piece. 59 thousand rubles for the GeForce RTX 3080 10 GB from GIGABYTE. In retail, they want from 100 thousand rubles for such a card.

And it might seem like a great deal. Powerful video card at a bargain price. However, it is important to remember that free cheese is only found in mousetraps.

This is what a typical mining rig looks like. Rig (from English rig) means equipment, equipment.

The optimal distance between the cards should be 10 centimeters so that the cards are somehow cooled. In fact, this is an increase in the size of the rig, so many people neglect this.

Mining card works all the time withoutbreak. Still, because it was bought not for entertainment, but to make money. Add here that, most likely, they tried to overclock the card (because, again, money!).

Does it have good cooling?It is highly doubtful. After all, proper cooling implies not only the distance between the cards, but also a good cooler, and external cooling is also desirable. It is highly doubtful that such a bother.

And overheating is almost the key reasoncard failure. At the same time, unlike the battery, where you can see the conditional “health reserve”, the failure of a video card is a spontaneous phenomenon. Just at some point, one of the transistors will fail and short out everything. Or the video memory will fly.

The other main cause of video card failure is running under 100% load for a long period of time. And mining is, in fact, an endless stress test.

And if, on average, when used in games fromcards can be expected to work for 5-10 years with proper cooling, then in the case of mining it is good if the card lives for 3 years, since during mining its temperature exceeds the recommended 70-75 degrees. The card is working at its maximum. In the case of the RTX 3080, this can be 80 or even 90 degrees. And so 24 hours 7 days a week.

Accordingly, buying a video card after mining- it's a lottery. For example, here in the announcement it is indicated that “video cards have been in mining since July 2021”. According to the profile, it is clear that the person decided to try to earn money and bought himself a couple of video cards that worked in such a rack. And, as I understand it, they were cooled only by their own coolers. And July 2021 in Moscow was oh so hot. If you forgot, then watch the news about abnormal heat. Did the cards even work in an air-conditioned room? A riddle to be solved by the buyer.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to check the health of a video card.seems possible. So, if greed wins and decide to buy a new hardware, do not be too lazy to conduct at least basic tests. Download 3DMark first and run a stress test for 20 minutes. This will allow you to evaluate both performance and stability. Pay special attention to the temperature chart. Before purchasing, look at the typical values ​​\u200b\u200bfor the video card you are buying and compare. So run a stress test in FurMark. If bugs appear during the test, then it is better not to buy.

Conclusion

Tell me in the comments if you boughtvideo cards, or maybe looking at a new smartphone. And did you have any money left to buy electronics, or was everything bought in a panic in February?