Shortly after the pre-order sale of iPhone 14 began in China, a Chinese economics blogger posted six articles in nine days in which he exalted Huawei and belittled Apple products, which sparked an outcry from Chinese netizens.
The iPhone 14 series became available for pre-order in China at 8 p.m. local time on Sept. 9, and sales were reportedly brisk.
According to Chinese state media Securities Times, at around 8:10 p.m., all versions of the iPhone 14 Pro Max were sold out at the Apple flagship stores on Taobao and JD.com, the top two Chinese e-commerce platforms. Some customers reported that these online stores had experienced a collapse, likely due to a high volumes of orders.
On Sept. 20, Chinese macroeconomist Ren Zeping posted an article on social media Weibo, criticizing the iPhone 14 for not being innovative and thereby fooling consumers. At the same time, he highly praised Chinese domestic phone brands.
Ren said: “When Huawei’s high-end flagship cell phone was in a head on competition with Apple phones a few years ago, its performance was several miles ahead of Apple’s. And just as Huawei’s attack was in full swing, the United States exploited hegemonic tactics to curb Huawei’s rise, [as] otherwise Apple would have been defeated globally.”
His post caught a lot of attention, but not in a good way. Most responders disagreed with him. The most “liked” message in the comment section read: “The chip performance is generally open and transparent, so even if you don’t understand technology, you should speak carefully and responsibly. Please tell us which Huawei cell phone model was ‘several miles ahead of’ Apple phone’s performance?”
The day after this backlash, Ren mocked Apple fans for “wasting their money as a result of a low IQ.” He argued that Apple’s cell phones are generally sold with a large premium in China, and the price difference between the U.S. and Chinese phones is largely “price discrimination,” after deducting factors such as tariffs and exchange rate fluctuations.
He also said that in Apple’s global pricing strategy, China is considered to have a more rigid demand, and that China’s Apple fans have strong economic power and blind adoration, thus giving Apple more pricing power. In his opinion, Apple believes that Chinese fans are “stupid and rich,” so it raises the price for Chinese consumers, which is even higher than the price in the United States.
Then, the most “liked” comment said, “The general consumers are spending their own money. No one is stupid, as they know very well which product works well and the buyers of which product are ‘wasting money as a result of low IQ.’”
On Sept. 22, Ren posted a third article to play his “patriotism” card.
The decision to buy an Apple phone depends on one’s personal preference, “but what I’m saying is that as the United States continues to deter China, excessive pursuit of Apple products is tantamount to giving the United States further leverage to contain China,” he said. “Chinese made phones have a better cost performance ratio. We should not blindly worship American products.”
This time, the most “liked” message said, “So I have to consider national interest for a matter as trivial as buying a personal phone?”
On the fourth day, Ren threw out a conspiracy theory, saying that Apple possibly played a role in the trade friction between China and the United States, which led to the suppression of Huawei.
“Why does Apple have such a close relationship with Trump? Why does Trump always praise Apple? Is there any secret deal between the two?” he wrote.
Ren is a post-doctoral fellow at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management. He was formerly the deputy director of the research department of the macro department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, the chief economist of Chinese real estate giant Evergrande Group, and the chief economist of Soochow Securities. He is known as an “internet celebrity economist” and has 3.976 million followers on Weibo.
On Sept.27, Ren retweeted a news article that “iPhone 14 sales were not as good as expected” and made some snide remarks about Apple.
The next day, he wrote another post, combining the points from his previous articles targeting Apple. By then, Ren had bombarded Apple in six posts.
A Chinese technology media platform Fast Tech published an op-ed on Sept. 28 refuting Ren’s views.
According to the article, although Ren’s recent posts had a lot of views, his credibility was decreasing, as he often makes extreme remarks when calling on consumers to purchase Chinese domestic brands.
Ren Banned Before
Ren is no longer the chief economist for Soochow Securities. He is now operating a self-media in China, and his income depends on the amount of web traffic to his posts.Running a self-media in China is not easy as the country’s economy continues to decline and financial self-media outlets are under pressure from the authorities. The regime’s top internet control agency, the Internet Information Office, said it has been “rectifying” financial self-media since last August.
Ren often makes remarks on hot topics, and some of his viewpoints have been inappropriate in China. For instance, when China’s population crisis came to light in January, Ren suggested that China’s Central Bank should print an additional 2 trillion yuan (about $280 billion) per year to encourage people to have more children, and aim at 50 million more children over a 10-year period. Both his microblog and WeChat accounts were suspended for two weeks as a result.
In response to Ren’s sustained criticism of Apple, Chao Jie, a current affairs commentator living in Japan, told The Epoch Times that as Apple is an American brand and Huawei is a Chinese brand, it is certainly politically correct to criticize Apple and praise Huawei in China. Ren knows well that he can make some remarks safely, and at the same time, earn enough traffic for his self-media.
“He may need to earn money this way. That is a possibility we cannot rule out,” Chao said.
