Huawei Boss Admits He Loves Apple Products To Death, Can’t Look Away
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies, Ren Zhengfei, admits that he idolizes Apple. He made this statement amidst heated geopolitical relations between the United States (US) and China, involving Huawei and Apple.
In short, Huawei has been blacklisted by the Joe Biden administration since 2019. However, Huawei’s proof through the Mate 60 Pro that it supports 5G networks was a major blow to the US.
Furthermore, Xi Jinping’s government was recently rumored to be blocking the use of iPhones among civil servants and companies affiliated with Chinese authorities. Even though it has been denied, China has indicated that the iPhone is not safe ahead of the launch of the iPhone 15.
Returning to Zhengfei’s controversial statement, he believes that Apple is a brand that provides valuable lessons. He also rejects ideologies that are hostile to foreign brands.
He conveyed this in front of university students and academics who took part in the Huawei-sponsored program, namely the International Collegiate Programming Contest.
“We [at Huawei] often explore why Apple products are so good. We also see what the gap is between our products and those made by Apple,” he said, according to a memo from his speech published this week, quoted by the South China Morning Post, Friday (22/9/2023).
I am happy because I have a ‘teacher’ who gives us the opportunity to learn and compare our performance. It doesn’t seem like an exaggeration to say that I am an Apple fan,” he added.
Zhengfei also indicated that her daughter used Apple products while conducting studies in the US. The daughter is Annabel Yao, who studied at Harvard University in 2016-2020.
This is not the first time Zhengfei has expressed his admiration for Apple. In an interview in 2019, he openly mentioned Apple as a good example for implementing privacy protection policies.
In the same year, he also praised Apple’s price benchmark strategy. According to him, Apple’s strategy makes competition healthy and other brands can survive.
He also touched on the trade sanctions imposed by the US on Huawei. Since 2019, Huawei has not been able to access advanced chip technology from the US to produce 5G cellphones.
However, the Huawei Mate 60 Pro is proof of the Chinese giant. Huawei succeeded in developing its own 5G chip with the help of SMIC.
“The US sanctions definitely put pressure on us, but also provide motivation at the same time,” he said.
After the US ban, we were forced to replace our platform infrastructure and it was very difficult. However, now we can build the platform independently,” he concluded.
Huawei Mate 60 Pro was greeted with great enthusiasm by Chinese citizens. In fact, analysts predict that this cellphone will cause iPhone 15 sales to plummet in the Bamboo Curtain country. In fact, so far Apple has often occupied first position as the best-selling cellphone manufacturer in China.
SOURCE : CNBC INDONESIA
