Hello everyone!
When buying a phone, Im sure u've come across the term
"AP" and
"ORI", do u know what these terms mean? Or do u just nod in agreement, acting like u know what it means?
haha
anywayy,
Original Phone means that it was brought into Malaysia via an
OFFICIAL DISTRIBUTOR that has been given official rights to officially distribute it across Malaysia to sellers and re-sellers and gives its official warranty to the phones that it has officially distributed!! hahaha
Original Warranty can be claimed at
any of the phone brand's Service Center. So if u want to claim for warranty for an original Nokia Phone, all u have to do is send it to a Nokia Care Center near you! no need to send it to the shop that u bought it from(but u can if u want to la)
Original Sets will give u peace of mind as defects are UNcommon but NOT impossible, but it will certainly burn a bigger hole in ur pocket! haha
Original sets are also phones that are distributed by the carriers/telcos (Maxis, Digi, Celcom, Umobile)
Official Distributors according to phone brand:
- Nokia - Zitron, Avaxx and Arista
- Sony Ericsson - Thorus, Midland
- HTC - SiS
- Samsung - Samsung Malaysia Electrics
- Motorola - Brighstar
- Blackberry - Brightstar
- LG - Thorus
- iPhone - Apple
AP Phones on the other hand are phones that was imported from various countries (Mexico, Indonesia, Hungary, Hong Kong) into Malaysia by
local distributors (S-Link, PDAGadgets) who then gives their own version of their warranty.
Usually 12 months for the phone itself, 3 months for LCD, 1 month for accessories.
AP phones are generally
cheaper than original phones (range from RM50-RM400 cheaper) but there is a risk in buying AP phones (there is a risk in buying anything, actually, just as long as u make ur research first)
Risks of buying AP sets:
- Some(not all) phone shops may claim that the phones that they're selling are brand New AP sets, when in fact, they are actually Recon(underwater) sets, Refurbished(old phone, new parts, look new, sell like new) sets.
- Phones may be locked (they cannot be used on all/certain carriers/telcos)
- Phone may not work properly (It was made in Mexico, it will only work properly under Mexico's network settings/etc, wont work well in Malaysia)
- Might be troublesome/slow when claiming for warranty
Misconceptions about AP sets:
- Not all AP sets are destined to ROSAK after a month's usage
- AP sets are not necessarily China Phones(u know, the ones with the dual sim card, TV antenna and crappy camera..haha)
That being said, most of the brand new phones I sell are AP sets, and none of my customers have anything to complain about (except for HTC Incredible S customers who are facing rebooting problems because of being the 1st batch of production..)
Thanks for visiting ThePhoneForYou! :D
