I wonder how Pine64 is going to handle the new HongKong situation, it dissolved its company in California[1] last year due to 'Legal Mafia' and re-established it in HongKong. The website claims to operate under China & Malaysia laws[2].
Irrespective of HongKong situation, it was already tough to receive pre-built smartphone shipped from China in India without paying extraordinary import taxes; Now due to China goods blockade there's no way I'll be able to receive this PinePhone and I'm very sad for it.
I hope Pine64 starts shipping from their Malaysia front(Which seems to be office of their Chinese manufacturer - Syabas Technology[3]). I really want these pure Linux phones to succeed, I'm tired of this duopoly in the smartphone ecosystem as a consumer, developer and as an entrepreneur.
Personally speaking, I received a Pinebook Pro a couple of days ago and I live in Sweden. I didn't pay a penny in customs/taxes and the delivery of the computer was 100% on time. Obviously shipping locations and times are delayed at times, as mentioned in their big update yesterday - https://www.pine64.org/2020/07/15/july-updatepmos-ce-pre-ord... - mentions improvements on shipping to the EU, and also impossibilities in shipping to certain countries.
That's probaly not relevant to many EU customers though. VAT is required on import of goods above 22 EUR (incl. shipping costs) in most places, and things are also going to change soon:
I feel good for you albeit bit jealous; Scandinavian region seems to be the best place to live as far as current world affairs/Geopolitical tensions/Pandemic is concerned.
Irrespective of HongKong situation, it was already tough to receive pre-built smartphone shipped from China in India without paying extraordinary import taxes; Now due to China goods blockade there's no way I'll be able to receive this PinePhone and I'm very sad for it.
I hope Pine64 starts shipping from their Malaysia front(Which seems to be office of their Chinese manufacturer - Syabas Technology[3]). I really want these pure Linux phones to succeed, I'm tired of this duopoly in the smartphone ecosystem as a consumer, developer and as an entrepreneur.
[1]https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/g8dqx9/pine...
[2]https://store.pine64.org/terms-of-use/
[3]https://www.reddit.com/r/PINE64official/comments/gbliyw/some...