If you liked the Mate 60 Pro from Huawei, you’ll love the Mate 60 Pro+, which went on sale in China Friday. It comes with satellite messaging and more storage.
The Mate 60 Pro caused an international incident this week when a teardown by Ottawa-based TechInsights revealed a domestically-produced 7-nanometer processor or, in layman’s terms, technology that suggests China’s semiconductor know-how is advancing despite US sanctions.
TechInsights called it “a significant milestone in China’s domestic design and manufacturing capabilities.” At least one US lawmaker called it evidence that SMIC, which produced the offending chip, is likely in violation of US sanctions.
Huawei was subtle, but snarky. There was no real rollout or fanfare around the device’s release. But it did go sale while Gina Raimondo was in China. The message was clear enough: The Mate 60 Pro was a middle finger to the US Commerce Department. Beijing apparently intended to embarrass Raimondo after the fact. It’d take a few days for the US government to verify what independent analysts would figure out quickly. By that time, she’d be gone, but China would have a hearty laugh at her expense.
The Party’s sprawling propaganda network, eager to capitalize on the apparent coup, whipped up patriotic sentiment with poorly-drawn, jingoistic cartoons, fanning an already giddy social media circus. At the same time, reports suggested Xi Jinping was preparing a far-reaching ban on iPhones for employees of government agencies and state-linked companies.
As expected, Raimondo’s Commerce Department has launched a new investigation. “We are working to obtain more information on the character and composition of the purported 7nm chip,” a spokesperson said.
The perceived likelihood of new US sanctions triggered big rallies in Chinese companies with stakes in lithography operations. If China wants to maintain momentum, Xi needs to make strides in that area. Shenyang Blue Silver Industry Automatic Equipment (whose management is openly hostile to acronyms), was up more than 50% this week, for example.
Other beneficiaries of the week-long melee include Huawei suppliers you’ve probably never heard of, like Dongguan Chitwing, which was limit-up in Shenzhen for what looked like the seventh session in eight.
The same statement from the US Commerce Department was adamant that Huawei, scrappy or not, is kneecapped. “The restrictions in place since 2019 have knocked Huawei down and forced it to reinvent itself at a substantial cost to the PRC government,” the US said.
That’s a cost Xi’s willing to pay, regardless of what currency it’s denominated in — dollars, yuan or blood. The US will need to try harder to stymie China’s domestic chip ambitions.
“Discovering a Kirin chip using SMIC’s 7nm (N+2) foundry process in the new Huawei Mate 60 Pro demonstrates the technical progress China’s semiconductor industry has been able to make without EUV lithography tools,” Dan Hutcheson, Vice Chair of TechInsights, said. “The difficulty of this achievement also shows the resilience of the country’s chip technological ability [and represents] a great geopolitical challenge to the countries who have sought to restrict its access to critical manufacturing technologies.”
I do wonder if it’s worth the effort. I’m no tech expert, but it seems reasonable to suggest that a better approach, given what history teaches about command economies run by ideologues, would be to give up playing Whac-A-Mole in favor of draconian restrictions on technology the US is absolutely sure poses a clear and present national security risk, then let Apple do the rest.
Maybe that’s naive. I’ll go a step further: It probably is naive. But I doubt seriously the idea that Huawei can outcompete Apple among billions of consumers over time, even in foreign markets where many buyers might feel obliged to factor in patriotism when choosing a phone. My guess is that Xi will continue to curtail Chinese citizens’ access to Western culture as part of the ideological struggle he’s determined to perpetuate and that eventually, that’ll manifest in increasingly onerous conditions for Western brands. It won’t work. Chinese consumers will still want iPhones and European luxury brands, and if Xi won’t let people have them, he’ll sow the seeds for capital flight, people flight and, in the end, domestic unrest.
In any case, if you want a Mate 60 Pro+, you can reserve one online with a small downpayment of CNY1,000 — about $137. The way things are going for the yuan, that’ll be $30 by next Friday. (I’m just joking. Sort of.)
Huawei promises delivery of your new Mate “no later” than October 9. Hopefully for all the Chinese smartphone buyers who pre-ordered on Friday, Huawei’s delivery promises are worth more than similar pledges by China’s property developers.
Dunno. My wife uses an iPhone while I use a Samsung Android phone. I can see absolutely no need to jump over to Apple.
This morning I read a Bloomberg story pointing out another reason for the timing of the purported restrictions: ” Almost five years ago, Apple fell short of holiday forecasts for its just-released iPhone XS and XR because of weak sales in China. Publicly, Apple blamed the US-China trade war and the local economy. But in an internal email to the company’s board, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook also cited Chinese nationalism and growing competition from local rivals.”
Apple stock bulls are counting on the iPhone 15 next week to recharge flagging sales. This certainly does not help in that regard.
But as out Dear Leader pointed out elsewhere, investors tend to ignore geopolitical factors until they whack us on the head.
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I have to say, from the perspective of someone (me) who cares absolutely nothing for brand loyalty and just generally is agnostic about anything and everything, Apple’s products are objectively superior. And it’s not close. It’s my opinion that anyone who says otherwise either hasn’t used them or subconsciously doesn’t want to concede the point for reasons that may not even be clear to them. I think some people have an aversion to Apple the same way some people have an aversion to Tom Brady. You know (not necessarily “you,” Derek, but just “you” in a broader sense) that Apple is superior, but it’s somehow annoying, so some people try to deny it. That’s one of the many miracles of Michael Jordan: Somehow, he managed to overcome that phenomenon. The only people who genuinely didn’t like him were Isiah Thomas, John Starks, Patrick Ewing, Knicks fans and Jazz fans for two seasons.
I do carry a bias from the early 90s when I was involved with open source coders who were opposed to Apple’s building walls around their Unix-based coding.
But read reviews in the tech press where even diehard Apple fans admit that Samsung phones are often superior in many ways. As in many products, the lead keeps passing between them as upgrades are launched. The A-15 chip does look righteous.
Apple’s great strength is locking in casual users and making it very difficult to retrieve your data if you try to move out of their garden. That is where their strategic brilliance shines.
Yeah, granted on the specs part, but 99.9% of consumers aren’t concerned with any of the stuff the tech press talks about. People want products that are stylish, trendy, popular, pretty, fun, easy to use and so on. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, of course, but it beggars belief that anyone seriously believes their Samsung phone or their non-Apple desktop is a nicer-looking product than an iPhone or a Mac. Sure, you might prefer your non-Apple product to an Apple product. But it’s the same way you prefer your significant other to Rihanna. No one doubts that your preference is genuine, but……
As a longtime DOS/Windows guy, I’ve never been part of the Apple ecosystem, save for an original edition iPod someone gave me back in the day (which I’m told is now valuable as a collector’s item, if I could just find it …). But as an Android user, I switched to Google Pixels a few years ago and my most recent model (about 2 yrs old) — a Pixel 5A — has been beset by warranty-covered screen and motherboard glitches. A lot of the Pixel “community” is infuriated with Google’s handling of their hardware defects. During my last trip to one of Google’s authorized service partners, the technician diagnosed my phone’s issue as I handed it to her — she had seen too many others come in with the same problem — then informed me that due to the number of defects and repair/warranty claims, none of the service partners had any inventory of the offending parts and that the phone had to be sent directly to Google.
Her advice to me if Google failed to satisfy? Just punt and buy a Samsung (which she owned). Not very scientific, and I know some have issues with Samsung’s OS, but she said she had been working there for nearly 3 years and rarely saw Samsungs come in for repair that weren’t caused by the user (cracked screen). Perhaps that is a market share issue, but last I checked Google was far behind Samsung and she was sure familiar with Google’s problems.
Great point about Jordan – I really can’t think of another exception
Cal Ripkin Jr. He just showed up for work day after day, did a great job, and was all-around wholesome and likeable. Plus, I don’t think anyone hates the Baltimore Orioles.
I am old and my memory is selective but Jordan had Detroit and they were openly dirty. In the face of his greatness they were disrespectful, dismissive, arrogant, in denial, you name it. Jordan was GOD. Larry Bird merely voiced the notion.
The phenomenon of Michael Jordan played out like the Judeo Christian tradition. We accept him as GOD, warts and all.
One really amusing phenomenon in the era of LeBron is that when you show younger NBA fans certain still-shots of Jordan, in some cases they don’t believe they’re real or think they must’ve been Photoshopped.
This one is a good example: https://heisenbergreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/JordanSept2023.png
I’ve seen younger basketball fans on social media claim that isn’t real or that it couldn’t possibly have ended up being a dunk
It is hard not to like Jordan- he has so much charisma. A real estate guru- he is not!
See what I found on #Zillow!
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2700-Point-Ln-Highland-Park-IL-60035/4902463_zpid/