Companies always say good things about their products. But in a rare occasion, Huawei is saying good things about one of its competitors in the smartphone business.
During a press conference in Taiyuan, the capital and largest city of Shanxi province in China, Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei said that the Apple iPhone 12 is the best smartphone in the world.
At the event, the CEO discussed the future of Huawei and its smartphone division, and doesn't hide his appreciation for Apple.
He said that “high-end customers in Europe love Apple. Since [Huawei] doesn’t have premium handsets any more, Apple’s phones have helped us prove that Huawei’s 5G technology is the best.”
Zhengfei continued by saying that the iPhone 12 is “the world’s best smartphone.”
During the press release, the CEO also squashed rumors of Huawei selling its consumer tech business, saying that Huawei “will never sell its [entire] consumer business,” which includes its smartphone business.
Zhengfei also hopes that his company is avoided from being dragged in geopolitical issues when the U.S. ban on Huawei is lifted.
“Our company does not have the energy to be involved in this political whirlpool. We strive to make good products. We hope that the U.S. government can have a more open policy for the benefit of American companies and the development of the U.S. economy,” he said.
So far, it seems that the Biden administration is likely to uphold the restrictions as well. Zhengfei said.
“I will not say it is impossible, but it is extremely difficult, so basically, we do not have that expectation,” he said.
“We just want to work hard, and we have plenty of money and can hire a lot of scientists.”
The Chinese smartphone company has been banned from doing business in the U.S., which means that Huawei phones cannot run on Google’s Android.
Since then, Huawei’s smartphone business has taken a serious hit.
Despite this drop in production, Huawei remains optimistic.
“My confidence grows in Huawei’s ability to survive [...] We have great confidence in our customers,” said Zhengfei.
The company was among the top-three smartphone manufacturers for the longest time.
After then ban however, others quickly surpassed Huawei, leaving Huawei a dominant player only in China, its home country.
Huawei has started marketing its own mobile operating system, the HarmonyOS, in its attempt to "live" without Google's Android.
While Huawei touted it as a replacement for Android, the operating system is in fact an Android.
Huawei's smartphone business may not look good, but the company thrives elsewhere. For example, Huawei is also developing 5G technologies for consumer and industrial applications, and has also started working on smart vehicles and doubling its efforts for cloud services.
So here, despite, the U.S. trade sanctions that may have put the development of Huawei's flagship phones on hold, Huawei is still a tech giant with lots of resources.