It’s nice seeing someone is putting the health of our government over capitalistic greed. I’m still shaking my head, miffed, 2 years after the United States of America allowed China to buy its oldest smokehouse (Smithfield Ham’s). China??? So much more needs to be done to protect our country from those easily swayed by the harmful byproduct of capitalism- GREED!!!
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US smartphone manufacturers using the pretense of their "concerns" about consumer privacy to suppress foreign competition that threatens their "holy trinity" monopoly: "If anybody's gonna spy on my customers, it'll be ME!"
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Just another example of how illiterate our law makers are when it comes to technology.
The Mate runs Android, any users concerned about that can always flash a stock Android rom, which would get rid of any "backdoor" the government might have added to the operating system.
What the government is actually working for is to reduce consumer choice and competition for smartphones in the US. US residents probably won't care though. The ones who really want it can buy it online (where most buy phones now anyways) and the others probably don't care that a nice phone is being offered for less than an arm and a leg. The US doesn't want competition anyways, as evidenced by the telecom industry (ridiculously expensive data plans), airlines (2-10 times more than equivalent European flights), and current isolationist policies.
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So Apple's domination of the market is fine (because after all you can trust them because they are American) but Huawei is untrustworthy (because they are Chinese)?
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Yup.
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It is interesting that Huawei is not concerned about AT&T ties to the US government.
This is one of the most ridiculous reason I've ever heard. I am sure China can find similar explanation to ban Apple, Intel, GM, Microsoft or Boeing products. Instead of working together to compete better in the future, we are setting a wall of isolation to gradually falling behind. The first thing to become better is to recognize that you have to compete fairly and openly. Using some excuses to prevent competition id a really bad idea.
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China has issued internal mandates to its companies and gov to replace US IT as soon as feasible with Chinese content. If your largest trading partner issues such a ban the one like Huawei is fully justified and must be followed by more by a more global one like China has just issued............
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Not buying an Android and certainly not at a premium price. They are insecure by design, are almost always not current on SW updates- unlike iOS and have lots of stolen IP. Plus that special Beijing inspired special sauce.
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I saw the advertisments for the phone and thought...are you kidding? Bad enough our govt gets backdoor access to US made products, who needs to give China easier access. Huawei makes networking gear also. That should make people nervous. Also look at Kaspersky Labs (Russia) offering free PC security software to cheap and gullible US citizens. Or maybe look at VEEM, which is Russian led and creates SW intended to protect a companies data......US companies. Security threat there? Or maybe look at DJI and their cheap drones. Those drones create 3D maps of wherever they fly....where does that data go? Anyway, NYTimes shoud do a more comprehensive look at potential security threats that we as a country are willingly bringing into our homes and businesses.
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Online shopping to get a Huawai phone is just a few clicks away. So what if AT&T does not sell Huawei phones as long as the phone can work just like any other smartphone on the networks? The Chinese Xiaomi phones are not sold in North America but if they work in Hong Kong, Singapore, India & Taiwan then they should work anywhere. I know many people who use the Xiaomi phone in Canada. No problem.
Although I haven’t been paying REAL close attention, in general I disliked AT&T for its monopolizing tendencies, and just assumed that the behemoth had acquired Time Warner corporations, because, for sure they had already screwed with their data rates and those” Internet neutrality” Issues.... adjusting them ideally in it’s favor. Surprise surprise; they haven’t even become the big – bigger behemoth that I had thought they were!
What Christmas gifts, electronic or otherwise, were made anywhere but China?The Chinese matrix of surveillance on its own people is intensifying to unprecented levels so it is hardly surprising they extend such to the entire world starting with the US. Their aggregate costs must be minuscule especially when they reap the payoffs. Russia must drool.
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Huawei is the second largest cell phone manufacturer after Samsung but is not known in the US. If Huawei was part of some espionage operation don't you think they would put a little more effort into marketing.
Fear not the Cold War lives on in the minds of politicians and those who fear for whatever reasons the rising tide of China and its technology. China has 700 million netizens and Apple products – assembled in China -- are disappearing before domestic products but the sales in the America would yield higher profit rates and that is the attraction to that smaller market.
A congressional committee could give the CIA and its elk the task of finding a technological threat and settle the issue, but to say ‘connected to the government’ for communist China is naïve at best.
When will Made in America resurrect in this globalized world? Hang on to the marketing that is where returns are highest, keep buying made elsewhere with USA brand names and feel patriotic. But go after their offshore profits while at it.
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If you just use Kaspersky antivirus software on your Huawei phone, won't the security risks cancel each other out?
I'm glad to see common sense prevail here.
This is a smart move by a major US telecom co. heading law maker's advice. I'm surprised it's taken so long for the American public to become aware of the ruthless tactics used by the CCP to undermine US innovation through intellectual property theft and industrial espionage.
I buy "made in the USA" whenever possible even if it means paying more for an item; and no, I'm not wealthy but believe the money spent is a good investment. It's time the top 1% in the US stopped selling out the American people to this hostile country, if only for their children's sake.
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I was looking specifically through the comments to see how many times I would find 'Kaspersky'.
I am not blind to the fact that Congress only acts when big business complains (in this case, yes, likely Apple and others) and it is likely that happened here.
At the same time I wish people would understand that Russian and especially Chinese companies cannot operate in their home countries without 'giving in' to demands from their non-democratic governments engaged in cyber espionage against the US and other Western countries every single day of the week. And what better way than handing out cell phones or install ant-spyware.
Just because it is a shiny new gadget and just because Apple and everybody else manufactures in China, and just because Congress is not acting solely for the common good should common sense be left outside the door.
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Huawei has had security issues for years. 4-5 years ago I worked at a Fortune 100 company that elected not to use Huawei network equipment due to such issues. Not surprised that their phones continue to have this issue.
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Just to be clear, the most technology illiterate part of the government thinks it's phone had security issues.
I'll believe them when they express any sort of ability to understand the implications of net neutrality or leaving backdoors in US technology company products.
It's not like the US market is protected from espionage, from its own government or otherwise.
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Fair competition and we know it. We can also add human right in it.
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Huawei already sells phones in the US market but when it wants to compete with Apple then suddenly Washington has interest. I say interest to protect Apple except consumers will be the one to lose here.
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Bad idea, if you drop a smartphone it generally cracks the screen and starts acting funny, freezing up and that kind of thing. Smartphones are more fragile than millimeter-thick porcelain, dropping them always leads to dysfunction.
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Now that the Chinese domestic market is becoming more mature and thus the service sector is booming over there, it'll be so easy for the Chinese government to adopt a 'countermeasure' for this new Huawei setback enter in the US market.
In the coming years China will be the world biggest economy, no doubt that in the service sector, the Chinese market will be served primarily by native companies at the expense of the foreign ones. For sure the snub of Huawei will be remembered and used as a motivation against the US companies that will be try to enter the Chinese market. Some sort of Law of Talion that are called "reciprocity".
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Interesting article. I love my Nexus 6P, which was made by Huawei and sold by Google. No interest in the Pixels. When I saw the Mate 10, I thought, "yes!" It looks comparable to the Nexus 6 (by Motorola), which IMO was the best phone offered by Google thus far.
AT&T may have backed out; the phone will still be sold by Amazon and the like.
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The disdain for the accomplishments of China in the United States is beyond saddening to me. China would be a reliably close partner to the US if we wished, but prejudice is keeping it otherwise. How foolishly sad.
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Nancy I have been watching your comments.There is a pattern there.You always speak like an official spokesperson of the CCP.
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it is not prejudice: it is wide-eyed realism.
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By accomplishments do you mean: unprecedented oppression and censorship of it's own populace, ubiquitous espionage and support for Iran and North Korea's nuclear weapons programs? What accomplishments are you referring to exactly?
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Huawei said that it had delivered “premium devices with integrity globally and in the U.S. market”
If you believe that, then I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you.
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If only they were as concerned about Russian interference!
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They know that Apple phones are all made in China too, right?
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Yes, to Apple's specifications. Which means no back doors. There is some concern that Apple may have to find different production facilities if China tries to make them put a back door in. That would be one epic change. Apple designs the stuff. Manufacturers can't change those designs to add back doors. So, Samsung astroturfer, your hair on fire implication falls flat.
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Read the story -- APPL doesn't have former PLA officers as executives.
I assume Apple would report Chinese surveilance to the public.Huawei won't.It has strong ties to the Chinese military.
Beautiful phone. Too bad its a pipeline directly into the Chinese Communist Party.
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Please present verifiable evidence of said pipeline. If you have it, you should share it.
It is inconceivable that Huwawei would not have links to Chinese spy agencies, just as it is highly improbably that Kaspersky Lab is not linked to Russian security agency hackers. China itself recognizes this by limiting access to US products. The ATT decision is pure common sense.
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"In policy guidance and speeches, Chinese officials have repeatedly called for technology made by American companies to be replaced by locally produced ones. Beijing has also widely blocked major American internet companies from offering products in the country."
This move by ATT isn't even anywhere near tit for tat. Unlocked Mate's are available (e.g. Amazon) and ATT will put a SIM card in it for you to use. Just to keep things in perspective.
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Just another drop in the endless river of reasons that the United States should not trade with China.
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I wonder how Americans would react if they couldn't get products made with cheap labor. Our economy would stall.
The rest of the world will continue to trade with China, though. Blocking them out hurts nobody but the United States. It certainly won't hurt China.
Since Intel had a backdoor on their chips for years....it only makes sense to be worried about foreign companies doing the same thing to us, right?
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No. Prove it.
It is time to call China and its major companies what they are: A criminal enterprise masquerading as a country. Let them take offense as much as they wish. Taking offense and throwing tantrums is a well established Chinese government tactic. As much as I dislike Donald Trump, he was on to something with his campaign rhetoric about China, though campaign rhetoric is, by necessity glib and unfocused.
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iPhones are manufactured in China, so are they not susceptible to the same security threats?
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No, they are designed in California. Manufacturers can't change those designs without Apple knowing, and Apple refuses to put in back doors. It's one of their biggest selling points that they protect users' privacy.
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In addition to the phones the US should ban all Chinese social media apps. For example WeChat, used widely within the Chinese community in the US and trying to expand in Asia and western countries, is run through servers in China. Canadian researchers found that Chinese censors monitor all WeChat conversations world-wide, extending communist party censorship globally. Chinese opinion control is creeping stealthily into other countries, and is now standard for Hollywood movies. Australia is already clamping down on Chinese political interference, the US looks the other way.
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The same reason that non-US companies and individuals avoid hosting in the United States, to avoid unwarranted and illegal surveillance by the NSA, et al.
Sounds to me like Apple & Samsung pressured AT&T behind the scenes to push out a cheaper, high performance phone & competitor. This phone looks awesome to me & does anyone really believe we’re not being tracked by everyone already across the board?
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Well, the Chinese government actually use Chinese tech to actually jail citizens who speak badly of the government so I'd say the U.S should be skeptical at the very least.
Fact: this is not the first time, this issue has arisen --
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-suspends-sales-of-blu-phones-due-to-pri...
"Amazon just put budget phone maker Blu in the penalty box. The online retailing giant told CNET that it was suspending sales of phones from Blu, known for making ultra-cheap Android handsets, due to a "potential security issue."
When it comes to high tech products put out by Chinese firms I have to suspect that they all have deliberate security flaws and backdoors.
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How important is how this plays out for the valuation of Apple?
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How could it possibly influence Apple's valuation? This has nothing to do with Apple. This is a cheap knock-off company that copies Apple products.
FINALLY!
I FEARED WE HAD ALL BEEN SOLD DOWN THE RIVER .
AS TIME PASSES, MORE AND MORE i FEEL WE WErE BETTER OFF WITHOUT A COMMERCIAL INTERNET(WWW) AND NO SMART PHONES.
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Where does the company end and government begin? For some cases it's impossible to tell. Rule of law and transparency might grow Huawei's international market but there are many problems to be solved before that can happen.
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