Huawei

Update: In seeming response to the White House comments, China has now accused the US of hacking Huawei servers and stealing data.

The iPhone versus Huawei battle is back on in China, following the launch of the Mate 60 Pro (yeah, that’s not an iPod, despite appearances). Sales of the Chinese company’s smartphones plummeted last year, after US tech sanctions blocked it from purchasing 5G radio chips.

The fact that Huawei has now solved this problem has raised a lot of eyebrows, including those of the US National Security Advisor, who commented on it during a recent White House press briefing …

Something many expect Apple to announce today is a satellite text feature, designed for use in emergencies in isolated areas where no cellular coverage is available. But if so, Huawei has just beaten Apple in announcing the feature, noting that it will be available in the Mate 50.

However, the US embargo on Huawei products means that Apple would still be first to a US launch …

Global iPhone production reportedly set a new all-time record in the holiday quarter, Apple managing to balance huge demand for the iPhone 13 line-up with a well-managed supply chain operation to minimize the impact of component shortages.

Two additional factors were at play for Apple, according to market intelligence company TrendForce …

China is said to be ready to label Apple an ‘unreliable entity’ as revenge for a US ban on exporting US technology to the Chinese manufacturer of telecoms equipment, Huawei. This could see the Cupertino company face a range of obstacles to doing business in China.

The dispute between the two countries originally dates back to 2018, but was escalated by the White House earlier this week …

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Leaker Evan Blass has posted images of what he says is Huawei’s upcoming tablet, which will reportedly be known as the MatePad Pro.

The device bears a remarkable resemblance to the iPad Pro, with thinnish bezels and rounded display corners, while the keyboard appears to look almost identical to Apple’s Smart Keyboard Folio bar minor differences in key markings…

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Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei has touched on how he is inspired by Apple before, and now he’s saying Apple’s stance on user privacy also inspires Huawei. In an interview cited by CNBC, Zhengfei said that Huawei would never provider users’ data to the Chinese government.

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The CEO of Huawei, a Chinese company subject to a US trade ban, says he would be the first to protest at any Chinese retaliation against Apple.

Ren Zhengfei says that neither company should be held responsible for the actions of their country’s governments, that politics and business are separate, and that he would personally refuse to even talk to President Trump …

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Both Apple and Huawei are entangled in the US and China trade war as tensions have grown over the last few weeks. A ‘Boycott Apple’ movement has gained steam in China, and many in the country are singing the praises of local tech giant Huawei while Trump has banned the company’s products. The latest example is a Chinese diplomat who has attacked Apple on Twitter saying Huawei has “cut Apple into pieces” but hilariously, he did it from an iPhone.

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Huawei Technologies, the Chinese behemoth with a growing portfolio of technologies and products, apparently doesn’t have any that appeal to the founder’s daughter — who also happens to be Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer.

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Apple has long been the undisputed profit king of the smartphone industry, taking by far the largest slice of the total profit pie. Indeed, at one point Apple was – by one admittedly eccentric measure – taking more than 100% of the profits, when factoring in loss-making brands.

iPhones have also consistently been the most expensive smartphones, discounting tacky bejewelled specials like Vertu. Even when Samsung theoretically matched or exceeded Apple’s pricing for its flagships, its offerings were usually steeply discounted 2-3 months after launch.

But all that is changing …

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In a new report from The Information, the site details a few purported anecdotes of Huawei trying to steal Apple trade secrets. The tactics involved Huawei engineers appealing to Apple’s manufacturers and suppliers with promises of big orders, but instead using the opportunity to pry on processes specific to Apple’s component production.

In one example, Huawei engineers working on a smartwatch met with a supplier last fall. According to the report, the engineers tried to eke out specs about the Apple Watch’s heart rate sensor by making promises of big orders.

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Analysts from Bank of America Merrill Lynch have suggested that Apple is facing a potentially worrisome “informal boycott” from consumers in China and India. A survey conducted by the bank’s equity research team, cited by Bloomberg, shows user interest in upgrading to iPhone dwindling, with most of the excitement coming from Samsung or Huawei products.

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Apple CEO Tim Cook has dismissed fears that China might target him in retaliation for the arrest of Huawei’s CFO. He says that he has no concerns travelling to the country.

Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested last month in Canada following a US extradition request to face charges of breaching US sanctions on Iran, and it has been feared that the Chinese government may respond by targeting Apple …

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Chinese firms are rallying around Huawei after the tech giant has seen immense pressure over recent weeks, climaxing with the arrest of the company’s CFO. Chinese companies are now threatening employees by demanding they not purchase any Apple products whatsoever, going so far to withhold bonuses, garnish wages or even terminate an uncooperative employee.

A report from Nikkei Asian Review details how companies have even offered workers tremendous subsidies on Huawei purchases, with discounts ranging anywhere from 10% up to free devices.

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T-Mobile and Sprint have shared the news today with CNBC that their merger deal is expected to be cleared by a US national security panel. The approval is said to stem from both parent companies of the carriers agreeing to reduce their use of Huawei devices.

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The arrest of Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on suspicion of breaching US sanctions on Iran could have implications for Apple, suggests a report.

Meng was arrested in Canada on December 1st in response to a US request for her extradition, as CNN reports …

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