China trashes made-in-India iPhones

Hi everyone, it’s Sankalp in New Delhi. Some in China aren’t fans of India-made iPhones. But first...Three things you need to know today:• H [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi everyone, it’s Sankalp in New Delhi. Some in China aren’t fans of India-made iPhones. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Huawei’s building a clandestine chip network [with overseas help]( • Jamie Dimon predicted AI will [deliver a 3.5-day workweek]( • Elon Musk’s X forged a [video partnership with Paris Hilton]( On the defensive The iPhone 15 is the first generation of Apple Inc.’s marquee product to launch with units made in India as well as China. That’s a big deal. Apple’s India manufacturing has advanced rapidly over the past couple of years to now ship as early as China, albeit at a much smaller quantity. But while India celebrates, some in China are fuming. The way I came across this was on X, formerly Twitter, where someone manipulated a screen grab of my article — original headline being [Apple to Sell Made-in-India iPhones on Launch Day for First Time]( — to make it seem like I was reporting about iPhones contaminated with animal matter coming off Indian assembly lines. The prank emerged amid a flurry of snarky nationalistic posts spreading across Chinese social media, Hong Kong-based colleague Zheping Huang helped me confirm. One example of the misinformation percolating on Weibo included the suggestion that European customers are rejecting India-made iPhones due to poor quality and Chinese units are being sent as replacements. The flood of fake news stems from the fact that China makes the majority of the world's iPhones — an achievement many are rightly proud of and that provides employment for more than a million people across the country. China prides itself on its tech and manufacturing prowess, and from where I stand, this anti-India sentiment suggests a measure of insecurity about how long that will be sustained. The world’s number two economy is looking over its shoulder. But, let’s be fair here, Indians give China and its products a hard time too. Our social media discourse has its share of caricatures about the people on the other side of the northern border. Indians buy Chinese tech products, from home lighting solutions to smartphones, without ever fully trusting the country. Think of Xiaomi Corp. and Oppo’s experience dealing with the New Delhi government, which handed down [fines]( and alleged a series of [misdeeds]( by the Chinese phone makers. Or the 200-plus Chinese apps that India [banned]( — TikTok among them — after a border clash with the Chinese military. Still, it’s a bit ironic for allegations of subpar production to be coming out of China, after that country took so long to shake off the prejudice around “made in China” as a mark of inferior quality. Also, I just don’t think there’s that much to worry about. Apple boss Tim Cook has said he wants to do more business in India, but earlier this year he also called Apple’s relationship with China “symbiotic.” India isn’t going to replace China in Apple’s supply chain anytime soon. It could take about [eight years to move just 10%]( of Apple’s capacity out of China. In other words, it might take us less time to find a successor to the smartphone as everyone’s go-to gadget than see the bulk of iPhones made outside China. I understand the sourness among some of China’s population. And I appreciate those among its netizens taking the time to debunk the misinformation and set the record straight. And if you do find a defect with your next iPhone, I’d advise looking past the country of origin when looking for the cause.—[Sankalp Phartiyal](mailto:sphartiyal@bloomberg.net) The big story Sequoia Capital, a longtime investor in OpenAI, will [no longer actively invest]( in other companies building AI models from the ground up. Instead, Sequoia’s leader said the firm will target companies that interact with models like the one maintained by OpenAI. Get fully charged Elon Musk’s Starlink partnered with the [e-commerce company Jumia]( to expand broadband access in Africa. Microsoft’s CEO said in the Google antitrust trial that the [idea that consumers have a choice in search engines]( is “bogus.” Volkswagen hired an ex-Tesla engineering director to [oversee software]( for future electric models. Big tech stocks are falling, but companies are [still generating revenue](. 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