Are Boox E-Readers Made In China?

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It's no secret to anyone that a lot of electronics originate from China. On top of there being so many tech brands owned by Chinese companies, operating in the United States and globally, there are also some truly innovative and really cool new gadgets you can only find in China. It is a tech powerhouse, with the infrastructure, supply chain, and extensive manufacturing ecosystem to support massive production output. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that your favorite products are either manufactured in that country directly or contain components from there. Many phones, tablets, and e-readers are made in China, with some names you might recognize. Kobo models are made in China and Taiwan (mostly the latter), Kindles were made in China at one time, and there are a handful of similar devices from companies like Huawei, iFlytek, Bigme, and iReader. What about Onyx Boox (or just "Boox") models? The simple answer is yes, Boox e-readers and devices are made in China.

The company is based out of Guangdong, China, and its manufacturing operations are centered there, too. Boox is the brand, Onyx International is the parent company that owns it, and it has been making e-readers and tablets since 2009. In its inventory are not just e-readers but feature-rich tablets, such as the Note Max. More recent models span the Boox Go 10.3 Gen II, Palma 2 Pro, and Note Air5 C, all e-ink-style tablets and devices, with the smaller Go 6-inch models focused on portable reading. The Boox Go 6 Gen II is generally comparable to a Kobo, Kindle, or Nook.

Considering the brand is from China, that does raise some questions about the data privacy and security for device owners. There are no known security threats to date, and data researchers have looked into Boox devices and their data use, including claims they phone home to China. The results appear to be pretty benign in most cases. Though some of the services appear to collect more data than should be needed, they still fall under the umbrella of legitimate uses.

Boox has also explained its approach to privacy and data security. Devices purportedly use end-to-end SSL encryption for data transfers, offer file protections for privacy with the option to lock certain content behind a password, and give you full control over access with proper security measures and cloud storage and data management tools.

Of course, none of these things mean the devices are completely safe. More research would be necessary to definitively confirm that, and there are still privacy and security risks to contend with. But when you consider what kind of data Amazon is collecting if and when you use a Kindle, which is a massive swarm of information, the general rule is to be mindful that most devices are doing this anyway. Many popular e-readers certainly collect data related to usage and reading habits, which is usually obvious by the general success of their recommendation engines.

If you browse through the Boox lineup, you'll immediately notice the devices are geared towards general use instead of just reading. Smaller Boox models, like the Go 6 or Go 7, have the same form and style as many other popular e-readers you might know. All Boox devices use the e-ink format display, which is easier on the eyes and tones down the brightness of regular LCD and modern panels. More importantly, Boox devices run Android and come with Google Play support, which means you can install pretty much any app you want, as long as it's compatible.

That gives you the opportunity to do whatever you want with the device outside of reading, and you can even install your favorite reading apps or services and bring your library with you — you're not locked into a single ecosystem. You could argue that's a step back from other e-reader models, because it exposes you to so many distractions, much like a smartphone, but you can completely limit what you install and use on these devices, so it's still up to you. Many Boox owners say the brand outshines Amazon Kindles in the way of customization, and knowing you can install virtually any app, it's easy to see why.

As a brief aside, Onyx Boox also makes other devices like the Mira E Ink monitor, which is a solid alternative to traditional LCD monitors. It takes the e-ink technology used in the Boox tablets and applies that to computer monitors.