How Huawei and Apple swung and missed for Chinese consumers

The Chinese tech giant's triptych device is trying to steal the iPhone maker's thunder, but the showdown leaves no winners among consumers.

- Catherine Thorbecke

If there is one thing that the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is remembered for, it is that he knew how to put on a show. Long before Apple became the world's most valuable company, it was an underdog that masterfully stole spotlights and invigorated rebel consumers.

Huawei Technologies seems to have taken a leaf from this playbook in scheduling its own flashy product event on Sept 10 just hours after Apple's annual iPhone keynote. The Chinese company unveiled the Mate XT, the world's first triple-screen smartphone that folds like the letter Z.

Visuals of the never-before-seen triptych design made a splash online, especially in contrast to the new iPhone 16's modest hardware upgrades, the most noticeable being a new button.

It did not help that Apple's biggest selling point for the latest device is built-in artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities that will not be launched in the Chinese language until 2025, and are subject to strict regulatory approval before hitting the lucrative market.

The absence of this key feature in China drew widespread derision on domestic social media; one viral Weibo post mocked that the iPhone 16 should be at half price without it.

Huawei was wise to seize the moment and stand out with physical hardware innovation at a time when most other industry players are showboating unproven AI updates. And years of brutal US-led sanctions have turned its comeback into the underdog story of the decade among patriotic Chinese consumers.