Apple has a Chinese Connection and I see problems. With apologies to Walter Scott, “O, what a tangled web we weave when first we bed down with those who deceive.”
One may argue the contrary, but Apple had no choice but to build the iPhone in China. They had the necessary engineering and manufacturing talent and raw materials necessary for Apple to advance the state of the art year after year.
What’s Apple’s problem in China? The same as everyone else’s problem.
China’s government. China’s major technology companies and their ties to China’s government. China’s history and penchant for appropriated intellectual property from non-Chinese companies. Fears that major countries have about China’s government and China’s technology companies.
Look around. You’ll read about Chinese smartphone makers and how they fare against Apple in China, India, and other rapidly developing companies. Apple is getting kicked because Chinese tech companies produce similar smartphones for less money, and they manage to get Western technology publications to tout products that their governments advise their citizens not to buy or use.
What’s with that?
Jim Martin on Huawei’s Mate 20, a competitor to Apple’s new iPhone line and Samsung’s premium Galaxy models:
The Mate 20 Pro is an outstanding phone. The cameras will be the highlight for many people, but it really is a great all-rounder with a good screen, super-fast charging, wireless charging and excellent battery life.
Glowing reviews abound for Huawei’s products. Except from Western governments who consider the companies ties to China’s government as sufficient cause to ban products.
It isn’t perfect, but the small niggles shouldn’t be deal-breakers for most people.
Other than the manufacturer. Could China’s government instruct and demand Huawei to capture user information which then gets phoned home? The feature list is long but the price tag is high, so the Mate 20 Pro will not outsell iPhone across the planet, but it’s just one of many Huawei models that have captured the fancy of technology journalists who write as if they’ve been paid to use glowing terms in product reviews instead of critical and insightful analysis.
Paranoid?
Look, we live in a capitalist world where everyone is out to get our money. Whenever everyone is out to get you, a little paranoia seems like a logical attitude to have.
Apple has a China connection in many ways and not all of them are good. iPhone sales are down for a variety of reasons, including economic and emotional trends. Apple is under pressure to build iPhones and other products elsewhere on the planet.
Yet, the Chinese connection is not going away soon.