As Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was visiting China earlier this week, a sea-green Chinese smartphone was quietly launched online.
It was no normal gadget. And its launch has sparked hushed concern in Washington that U.S. sanctions have failed to prevent China from making a key technological advance. Such a development would seem to fulfill warnings from U.S. chipmakers that sanctions wouldn’t stop China, but would spur it to redouble efforts to build alternatives to U.S. technology.
I looked at the previous 2 versions of this handset for my own use and didn’t end up getting them. They have now dealt with most of the issues (no access to google play store apps etc) via Lighthouse, but it’s still got a zany custom OS (EMUI) which features a bit of Chinglish and some pretty bizarre UI choices. The cameras are absolutely kickass in the Mate 50 pro, I would say better than iPhone 14 pro max without much hesitation at all.
On the downside, these devices almost certainly contain backdoors and may be phoning home regularly. The reality is, so is your Samsung, so is your Pixel, so is your iPhone. ALL of them have backdoors and are capable of recording and transmitting audio even when turned off. In this instance, I feel more comfortable giving a backdoor to the Chinese than any 5-eyes manufacturer. After all, what consequence is there for the Chinese to spy on me compared to my home country via a third party 5-eyes nation and their manufacturing partners? China has no bearing on my life.