Umidigi, formerly known as UMI, is a Chinese

consumer electronics Consumer electronics, also known as home electronics, are electronic devices intended for everyday household use. Consumer electronics include those used for entertainment, Communication, communications, and recreation. Historically, these prod ...

manufacturer based in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. Established in February 2012, the company made its debut in July of that same year with the launch of their first phone, the UMI X1.

Products

Umidigi has introduced more than 55 phone models. In addition to phones, the company also has a range of

mobile phone accessories Mobile accessories include any hardware that is not integral to the operation of a mobile smartphone as designed by the manufacturer, and adds utility to the mobile phone. Cases Cases, which are designed to attach to, support, or otherwise ...

, such as wireless earphones, smartwatches, a Bluetooth selfie stick/tripod combo, and a wireless charging pad. Some of these accessories go under brand names such as Ubeats, Upod, and Uwatch. In

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, Umidigi is partnering with Redgreen in order to expand its presence in the region. A version of the Umidigi A9 was sold in the United States as the " Freedom Phone."

Smartphones

Controversy

In 2021, Umidigi sparked controversy by allegedly violating the GPLv2 agreement. When a developer requested the kernel source code for the UMIDIGI F2 phone, as it used a

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a Free and open-source software, free and open source Unix-like kernel (operating system), kernel that is used in many computer systems worldwide. The kernel was created by Linus Torvalds in 1991 and was soon adopted as the k ...

, UMIDIGI directed them to its Shenzhen office, implying inconvenience as there were language barriers. Seen as obstructive to foreign developers who couldn't speak Chinese, the move sparked outcry among some. When a tech blogger visited the office to aid the developer, they found that the implicated employee had already left the company with no one taking responsibility in the end.

References

External links

* {{Electronics industry in China Mobile phone companies of China Mobile phone manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Shenzhen Chinese companies established in 2012 Chinese brands 2012 in Shenzhen