# mobiles - good prices?



## nerd_deluxe (Nov 19, 2013)

Hello there, I need to buy a phone for my wife and I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations aside from me just looking around here and there. 

Should I go to the malls or one of the small mobile shops around my (current) neighborhood (Al RIgga metro area). 

I'd like to get an iPhone, but not set in stone. My worry with some of the smaller places is I don't know that the phone is clean of malware.

Any thoughts?


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## rsinner (Feb 3, 2009)

jadopado.com - reliable and one of the lower cost options.


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

if you want good prices compare stores and online sites. Plenty of them out there. Jadopado USED to be a place where you can get anything at good value but now it's sometimes overpriced. There are a lot of others, alshop.com, souq.com, etc... that offer better discounts sometimes but you might not get much of a bargain if you're after Apple products. 

I've also been to some of those small stores and to be frank they tend to treat westerners and locals like fools and sometimes they'll add rather than subtract from the official retail price.

So yes it's best to shop around but if you're concerned about warranty then you might have to settle for official retailers.


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## nerd_deluxe (Nov 19, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. I'll certainly look around. These were the answers I thought I'd hear, but wanted to make sure.

For us, having a warranty and a more certain product is probably worth some premium. Both my wife and I will be traveling for work. So having (another) goofy phone isn't an option.

Thanks!


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## Mr Rossi (May 16, 2009)

nerd_deluxe said:


> For us, having a warranty and a more certain product is probably worth some premium.


Definitely go to the mall and use a chain store then.


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## Berliner (Jul 18, 2013)

Or you can go on dubizzle and buy one that has been used for a few months and comes with warranty/receipt. you can find ones that have zero scratches and save some money as well.


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

i have been wondering the same thing. i know jadopado and compared to buying the phones in canada with 13% tax it is cheaper at jadopado.

but i also have been down to karama and there are shops there that sell apple products that seem to be legit, in sealed boxes etc. is it safe to buy from these guys or too dodgy?


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

If you buy from an online store and don't care about the extra "perks" they offer then Jadopado is one of the worst sites to buy from! Why? Their prices! They no longer offer bargains on most of their items and in some cases their "sale" is just a reflection of some other site's price drop!

For Apple products you have to realize that you will NEVER get a real bargain with them. You may get 100-200dhs off but usually that's about it. Even employee/company discounts at Axiom don't get much more than that off. If you want a small discount but want to be sure it's real, try alshop.com or souq.com. Those two usually have decent prices on other brands more than Apple.

As for Karama, they're all shady unless you know someone who works there. If you speak his language you usually get a real discount unlike the fake ones they give westerners.


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## dr0nehack (Jan 22, 2014)

I had a similar experience as stated by other here.

I was in the market for an iphone 5c ( why ? because i wanted one) , and was surveying the prices online , I found the lowest one on line to be crazydeals.ae , but making an order on the website is very challenging task , they next one was jadopado.com , prices were slightly more

Eventually, I went on to Sharjah city centre , and found shops there which were selling it way cheaper than quoted online, this including the warranty and some extra stuff. In dubai I am unaware as to where to buy good electronic items. 

Conclusion , online deals are not necessarily the best ones, there range is restricted and sometimes can be difficult to get the thing you want , your better off , not relying only on one source.


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## Zeeshan08 (Sep 15, 2013)

You have to be careful with a lot of the small shops. I'm working wholesale in this industry and the filth that has been going on lately is alarming. As a end user you won't be able to tell, but alot of these small shops are buying refurb product from china, and reboxing with new accessories and then sell them to the end user as "new". For this reason, many times you THINK you're getting a stellar deal when in fact you're getting a refurbished phone. Or, one thing to be careful of when dealing in the iphone 5s these days is this...iphone 5s market in a wholesale sense is absolute crap. Most wholesalers are working off a profit of 5-10 AED per piece (yes its garbage, and the reason I stopped dealing in apple). So to make ends meet, they are swapping the original accessories for chinese copies, then resealing the plastic and selling them off for the mentioned 5-10 AED profit. Then they sell the original Apple accessories for 30-40 AED profit and that's how they're making their money. 

I'm not saying everyone is doing this, there are still honest shops around selling you an original product, but I'm just putting the info out there to make you all aware of what's going on. I see it every day. Anyway, if you want to buy original product, Axiom, Carrefour, Ecity type places as well as buying direct from the carrier (etisalat or du) is the best option, although their products usually hold a premium cost over what you can pay at a local shop. If you want to get them at a discounted price you can PM me (as i dont believe im allowed to post any particular shop info on here) and I can point you in the right direction of which shops I know of that are trustworthy


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

Zeeshan08 said:


> You have to be careful with a lot of the small shops. I'm working wholesale in this industry and the filth that has been going on lately is alarming. As a end user you won't be able to tell, but alot of these small shops are buying refurb product from china, and reboxing with new accessories and then sell them to the end user as "new". For this reason, many times you THINK you're getting a stellar deal when in fact you're getting a refurbished phone. Or, one thing to be careful of when dealing in the iphone 5s these days is this...iphone 5s market in a wholesale sense is absolute crap. Most wholesalers are working off a profit of 5-10 AED per piece (yes its garbage, and the reason I stopped dealing in apple). So to make ends meet, they are swapping the original accessories for chinese copies, then resealing the plastic and selling them off for the mentioned 5-10 AED profit. Then they sell the original Apple accessories for 30-40 AED profit and that's how they're making their money.
> 
> I'm not saying everyone is doing this, there are still honest shops around selling you an original product, but I'm just putting the info out there to make you all aware of what's going on. I see it every day. Anyway, if you want to buy original product, Axiom, Carrefour, Ecity type places as well as buying direct from the carrier (etisalat or du) is the best option, although their products usually hold a premium cost over what you can pay at a local shop. If you want to get them at a discounted price you can PM me (as i dont believe im allowed to post any particular shop info on here) and I can point you in the right direction of which shops I know of that are trustworthy


Thanks for this. i know already that margins on apple are already pretty tight and any amazing discounts are likely to indicate false product. but i'm mostly just comparing to the cost of buying from the apple store in canada [altho i won't get s UAE LTE band enabled phone i know!]. i had assumed that anything thru the usual mall shops or carriers tho will be FT disabled and that is a deal breaker for me. that is why i was considering jadopado. and have also now looked at alsouq as recommended.

would you say these two online shops are trusty enough? there prices are fine and will save me still over canadian prices. or can i still get a fully enabled [meaning FT etc] phone from jumbo or carrefour too??

ps. you are fine to recommend a particular shop as i have asked for that info. and as long as it isn't your own shop you're promoting


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

I've bought products from jadopado, alshop and souq.com and never had any issues with regards to their authenticity.


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## Zeeshan08 (Sep 15, 2013)

Moe78 said:


> I've bought products from jadopado, alshop and souq.com and never had any issues with regards to their authenticity.


I was commenting on the retail shops, rather than online retailers. However as I said the end users usually can't tell the difference regardless.


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Zeeshan08 said:


> I was commenting on the retail shops, rather than online retailers. However as I said the end users usually can't tell the difference regardless.


I was replying to sammylou who just asked in the post above if two of those sites could be trusted


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## Rainmaker (Oct 11, 2008)

nerd_deluxe said:


> Hello there, I need to buy a phone for my wife and I'm wondering if anyone has recommendations aside from me just looking around here and there.
> 
> Should I go to the malls or one of the small mobile shops around my (current) neighborhood (Al RIgga metro area).
> 
> ...


Get off Baniyas Square metro station. There are lots of mobile shops there. Prices 100-200 bucks cheaper than malls and online stores.


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## emrah (Feb 22, 2014)

I guess I won't have a problem then. 
I am working for A.p.p.l.e and get a nice discount


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## Dexter88 (Apr 18, 2014)

You should buy from an online store


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## Zeeshan08 (Sep 15, 2013)

Moe78 said:


> I was replying to sammylou who just asked in the post above if two of those sites could be trusted


Doh! Sorry


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## Zeeshan08 (Sep 15, 2013)

sammylou said:


> Thanks for this. i know already that margins on apple are already pretty tight and any amazing discounts are likely to indicate false product. but i'm mostly just comparing to the cost of buying from the apple store in canada [altho i won't get s UAE LTE band enabled phone i know!]. i had assumed that anything thru the usual mall shops or carriers tho will be FT disabled and that is a deal breaker for me. that is why i was considering jadopado. and have also now looked at alsouq as recommended.
> 
> would you say these two online shops are trusty enough? there prices are fine and will save me still over canadian prices. or can i still get a fully enabled [meaning FT etc] phone from jumbo or carrefour too??
> 
> ps. you are fine to recommend a particular shop as i have asked for that info. and as long as it isn't your own shop you're promoting


FYI, souq.com as well as jadopado are supplying USA stock iPhones...as well as many shops in Dubai. USA stock iPhones are all over...including places like E City and E max, fono, etc. If you want it to work seamlessly with LTE in UAE you will have to get the official UAE phone from Etisalat or DU, however you will not have Facetime as you've mentioned. If you want Facetime, the USA phone will work fine, and the LTE will work, but not everywhere it should as the USA version supports ONE of the TWO LTE bands used in UAE. So you'll get LTE coverage in about HALF the areas you should. I know it sucks, but it's a trade off, full LTE no facetime, half LTE full facetime. Also the USA version will run you less money (if bought outside the mall) than the 2,749 AED retail tag at Etisalat/DU. Near Baniyas Metro as mentioned above, you can get the phone for around 2,400 (USA Version) but you get ZERO warranty support...meaning if you open the box and the phone has something wrong from the get go, sorry, out of luck chuck. Weigh all options, choose wisely lol.


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## sammylou (Oct 29, 2012)

Zeeshan08 said:


> FYI, souq.com as well as jadopado are supplying USA stock iPhones...as well as many shops in Dubai. USA stock iPhones are all over...including places like E City and E max, fono, etc. If you want it to work seamlessly with LTE in UAE you will have to get the official UAE phone from Etisalat or DU, however you will not have Facetime as you've mentioned. If you want Facetime, the USA phone will work fine, and the LTE will work, but not everywhere it should as the USA version supports ONE of the TWO LTE bands used in UAE. So you'll get LTE coverage in about HALF the areas you should. I know it sucks, but it's a trade off, full LTE no facetime, half LTE full facetime. Also the USA version will run you less money (if bought outside the mall) than the 2,749 AED retail tag at Etisalat/DU. Near Baniyas Metro as mentioned above, you can get the phone for around 2,400 (USA Version) but you get ZERO warranty support...meaning if you open the box and the phone has something wrong from the get go, sorry, out of luck chuck. Weigh all options, choose wisely lol.


a good point, one which i am aware of. my current 4s was bought in canada before we came over. wanted the FaceTime but didn't care too much about the LTE esp since i had heard it was still quite sporadically available in UAE.

so while the north american iPhones will not work on LTE here there are other models [i believe mostly Asian, and possibly UK? can't remember right now] which do run on the same bands as the UAE LTE. you just gotta know that. i did email jadopado to ask about that and they said that while their iPhones are sourced from various countries they guarantee their models to come equipped with both FT and ability to pick up LTE network in UAE. so seems pretty safe to me and they come in a little cheaper than canada + 13% tax!


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## Moe78 (Oct 29, 2010)

Head over to Gitex if you want a phone. If you shop around you can get a decent bargain from an official store with warranty. My friend got the LG G2 for 1499 with case and the usual bundle of freebies. Just a few dirhams more than souq.com's price!


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