That’s a tough but fair question! Region-locking is a common business strategy for global brands, and for Aqara, it comes down to a few key reasons:
- Cost & Market Fairness: Manufacturing, shipping, and marketing costs vary significantly between regions. Cross-region sales can disrupt local markets and make it difficult to maintain fair pricing for everyone.
- Hardware & Safety Standards: Products are often built to meet specific regional safety and technical standards. Using a device in a region it wasn’t designed for can lead to performance issues or even safety risks.
- Local Support & Dealers: Our local distributors are essential for providing the best after-sales service. Cross-region sales can hurt these local partners and make it much harder for you to get the support you need if something goes wrong.
We’ve tightened these policies based on past experiences and risks we encountered. Just because we were more relaxed about it in the past doesn’t mean it was the best long-term strategy for our users. International markets are a huge priority for us, and you’ll be seeing more and more of our product lineup launching globally soon.