Things are happening in the smartphone market! Time to try to make it somehow about Apple.
Writing for the very nice people over at Business Insider, Shona Ghosh tells us of the great disappointment.
“The Android phone maker that is more popular than Apple isn’t selling its new iPhone rival in the US.” (Tip o’ the antlers to Mickey.)
You might be wondering why Apple is in the headline of this story that has to do with another phone vendor. Well, see, this other smartphone vendor sells more phones than Apple. So, while this story really has nothing to do with Apple, Apple’s in the headline so Business Insider can get in a kick at it. That’s why.
Huawei, the Chinese phone brand that is more popular than Apple globally, has confirmed it won’t be selling its new flagship devices, the Mate 20 and Mate 20 Pro, in the US.
Won’t. Can’t. What are words anyway? Just a means of expressing concepts! In this case, a slightly innaccurate concept.
Huawei’s statement suggests that die-hard fans will be able to buy European or Asian versions of the phone, but will need to check if their network supports imported devices.
You know, all those die-hard Huawei fans.
Um.
Well, there’s Gary. The Rickster. Automatic Steve.
That’s probably all of them.
The Mate 20 Pro, starting at €1,049 ($1,215), is expensive, but cheaper and more feature-packed than the $1,099 iPhone XS Max.
If you’re wondering how a $1,215 phone can be cheaper than a $1,099 phone, it’s because Apple products cost more abroad than in the U.S., so the iPhone XS Max is €1,225.
Its standout features include on-screen fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, built-in artificial intelligence, and an impressive triple-lens camera that takes beautiful macro and wide shots.
Uh, well, the iPhone has some of those features at least and certainly others, but this phone sounds fantastic! Why aren’t its hordes of fans in the U.S. going to be able to line up for the chance to buy one?!
The US is suspicious that Huawei spies on users for the Chinese government
Ohhh, right. The spying. On you. Yeah, there’s that. But what’s a little spying for a €176 savings?
So AT&T and Verizon won’t touch this phone with a 10 foot selfie pole.
This essentially locked Huawei out of the US and, at the time, consumer mobile CEO Richard Yu reacted furiously. He said: ““[It’s] a big loss for consumers, because they don’t have the best choice for devices.”
The best choice is the one that could be spying on you. That’s… one opinion.
It’s a little odd how, in a story that’s about how Huawei can’t crack the U.S. market, we get repeatedly told how much better it is than Apple. Except for, you know, that whole spying thing.
[CORRECTION: An earlier version of this column mistakenly compared Euros to dollars, implying the price difference was only €10.]