I'm not saying it for china-boo reasons. I bought a mid-range Xiaomi on sale and I've been very satisfied with it. I don't recommend Samsung because I've felt their quality hasn't really been improving much over the last few phones of theirs I've had. When I got my new phone I felt like I did when I got a Galaxy Note 4 back in the day. It was cool and interesting, the android skin they use is very good, the charging is absurdly fast, it was cheaper compared to the alternates (it WAS on sale though), it does all the things I need, the screen is fantastic, the camera works for the pictures I tend to take. I'm not trying to divert money to China or something, I just don't like Samsung anymore(but used to) and do like the one(1) Xiaomi phone I've had, for the same reasons I used to like Samsung.
I don't really care about phone aesthetics. They all look like shiny thin glass and plastic things with circles on the back to me.