Hacker News Reader

How many mainstream phones come with unlocked bootloaders? Just pixel right?

Most do, at least in most countries.

Not by default, but you have to enable it in developer settings, and then it does a full wipe, so if you plan to root your phone anyway, you do that when you buy it (buy, test hardware, oem unlock + factory reset, root, actually start using).

Fairphone

From memory:

- non-US Samsung phones

- Most Sony, HTC, Motorola are unlocked

- Chinese brands like Xiaomi

Not all Pixels are unlocked; carrier-bought US phones are usually OEM locked.

Xiaomi has fake unlock. It has an unlock button that never works and never has worked. Instead you have to write a letter to get their approval code or some complete bullshit like that. Of course this is because unlocking is illegal in China and they sell a lot of phones in China.

In my own experience, you need a Windows app and a Xiaomi account, and then it will ask you to wait for days, and only then can you unlock it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com