At first glance, it’s hard to tell why this picture is attracting so much attention on Weibo.
It shows a man opening his bag at an airport security line, while an officer holds an iPad. It’s a normal sight, until you recognise the man who the Apple device seemingly belongs to: Huawei CEO Ren Zhengfei… But it wouldn’t be a surprise: Ren has previously admitted his love for Apple. And Huawei’s CFO, Ren’s daughter Meng Wanzhou, was carrying an iPhone 7, iPad Pro and MacBook Air when she was arrested in Canada.
Responding to rising nationalist sentiment and calls to boycott Apple products in China after the US blacklisted Huawei from buying American technology, Ren said he would oppose any plans to ban Apple products in China. He also called Apple his teacher. “As a student, why go against my teacher? Never,” Ren said in a Bloomberg interview.
MacDailyNews Take: Huawei’s CEO has excellent taste in tablets.
I love his answer…
“ My children prefer Apple products over Huawei’s. Does it mean that they don’t love Huawei? Of course not,” the CEO told Chinese media in May. “Huawei products are ultimately commodities. People use them if they like them.”
He further explained, “iPhone has a good ecosystem and when my family are abroad, I still buy them iPhones, so one can’t narrowly think love for Huawei should mean loving Huawei phones.”
Hmmm…. So you can admire a competitor’s product without being like some kind of traitor?
Oddly reasonable answer..
In most places it’s called IP theft. In China it’s called life.
This is how Chinese commerce work. No role model- Apple no mass volume model Huawei.
was he looking for a XEROX Machine?
her daughter Huawei CFO arrested In Vancouver a few months ago (due to USA request via extradition treaty ) had an iPhone 7, an iPad and a Macbook with her.
(note Huawei also makes tablets and laptops)
Personally i think it’s due to Huawei’s execs preference for Apple’s strong encryption vs the ‘toxic hellstew’ of Android. The Macbook is due to integration with her phone. She did not have a the latest iPhone (the X at the time) so can’t be for her to ‘test’ the latest Apple products (that excuse was used by Eric Schmidt when caught using an iPhone)