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95% of Chinese Users Surveyed Would Rather Give Up Their iPhones Than Lose WeChat

I can certainly understand why they would give up their iPhones. A smartphone is just a tool to do what you need to do. If the tool no longer works, then you might as well just discard it. I get it. I don't blame the Chinese citizens at all. I would think any high-end smartphone would be a waste for them to own. They could simply buy some low- to mid-tier smartphones and get everything done that they need to do with the WeChat app. I never understood why people would buy iPhones in China except for some bragging rights. I could easily buy a high-end smartphone but I carry some cheap LG Stylo Android smartphone that's on the Tracfone network. Why? Because that's all I need for emergency use and so far it's worked perfectly.

I don't think the Chinese citizens will be dumping their iPhones because I'm sure Apple will allow WeChat on the Chinese Apple App Store. Why would it be banned in China when most Chinese citizens are using them. I had thought WeChat would only be banned in the U.S. That would be a problem for Chinese nationals living in the U.S. and using WeChat on iPhones but that probably wouldn't impact iPhone sales to a large degree. I'm an Apple shareholder and I'm not worried about the Chinese dumping their iPhones because I believe Apple will allow WeChat to be used in China. The App Store is a regional store, so what's the problem of allowing WeChat in regions other than the U.S.?
 
JPack said:
They can use QQ or iMessage.

QQ is owned by Tencent, same as WeChat.

So again, it doesn't help with "national security" one bit.
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Just like in Mumbai, India when those terrorist were using Blackberries witch were encrypted. You dont think China isnt spying on WeChat for National Security?
 
GrumpyCoder said:
While the whole world is watching, I think few really care anymore. For the whole world, the US is a country full of idiots run by the biggest moron in history. It’s sad, there used to be a time when people looked up to the US (not for everything, but for some things), now all they do is laugh.

And congrats on being Canadian. I’m in Vancouver/Whistler two to three times a year, have some friends there. Always very enjoyable. Thinking about permanently relocating there.
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I live in the Toronto area, but I’ve been to Vancouver a couple of times. If there’s anywhere else in the country I’d choose to live it’s definitely there!
 
The article does a terrible job explaining the function of WeChat in China. It makes it sound like it's just a very popular social/communication app. To clarify a bit: most Chinese don't use cash or credit cards - they all use WeChat or, to a smaller extent, AliPay. So WeChat is an essential tool in everybody's lives there - the quote in the article is absolutely right: an iPhone without WeChat is electronic trash. I read an article recently about how covid-19 is increasing the use of "electronic wallets" here in the US. The US is still a very cash-oriented society - something like 1/4 of retail transactions are still cash based and the majority of non-cash payments are credit-/debit-card based. In China some 95% of payments are non-cash, with most of that via WeChat/AliPay.
 
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burgerrecords said:
It breaks down pretty simple. For Chinese folks:

Open source android + wechat > any closed source android or iPhone without wechat.

Add huawei to the equation and you have a likely perfectly sufficient alternative to US control from now and in perpetuity.
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Even the Huawei CEO uses iPhone. End of the day it's their loss. It's just an app. Get another phone.
 
one more said:
Because WeChat, as explained in a previous article, serves its users as a multi-functional tool, allowing to chat, make payments, etc. It also seems to be very popular in China.
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"very popular" is quite an understatement. WeChat, hate it or not, is THE app to have in China, whether you are a Chinese citizen or an expat. It is not just Facebook or Twitter.
 
ccsicecoke said:
Chinese communism party banned all other apps from the globe fearing their people would learn the truth and protest for freedom
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You obviously have been listening to Trump too much. What you say is just propaganda.

FYI 94% of Chinese support their government - far more than in any western ‘democracy’! If you had actually been to China you would know why.
 
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ccsicecoke said:
Chinese communism party banned all other apps from the globe fearing their people would learn the truth and protest for freedom
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Wow! Really? Still at that point? I see you're well informed. I believe you've never been to China and haven't the sightest idea of how that country is. People are much much much more free than you think. And they know quite a lot about the world.
 
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I completely understand this headline. I do business with suppliers in China, and we communicate by apps such as whatsapp or wechat. I personally don't care which one, but the Chinese govt sometimes blocks everything except wechat, so we basically stick to wechat, and not having it would make it very hard to run my business. In conclusion, if I can't use wechat on an iPhone, and I still can on Android, then I'm moving to Android, end of story. And I live in Australia, not China, so this problem would only exist for me with my suppliers. But if I lived in China, this would cause communication problems with everyone, so I totally get these survey results.

PS - and no I don't care that the Chinese (or any other) government is monitoring my wechat conversations, I am simply discussing products with suppliers, and am very careful to not have any discussions about the government or anything controversial. On that subject, unless you are using end to end encryption using open source software, then any claims of your software/platform/brand/device/country respecting privacy is a joke. Thus the only thing you can truly trust are things like PGP. And even then, if the person at the other end leaks it, it's gone too.

Apple's monopoly control seems to be unravelling at the seams.
 
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If the Chinese people are so dumb that they want to be spied on hourly by their government, so be it. Dumb is as dumb does.
Let them have WeChat. But what happens in China should stay in China. Let them suffer. I won't lose any sleep. We should be creating some new apps that spy on them too, tit for tat if they like it so much.
 
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Well, maybe it's time for Apple to actually put a focus on other parts of Asia other than China. China is definitely a huge market, most populous country in the world. But there's no 2 (India) and no 4 (Indonesia) that are mostly ignored by Apple.

Unless Apple can somehow negotiate with the US government for a solution (eg. only banning the app for US app store), Apple would probably become a very small player in China, just like Samsung.
 
You never heard about NSA, Xkeyscore, PRISM, Snowden…? You are monitored constantly by your own state, and you seem to be all fine with that.

Maybe the Chinese are equally fine with their state monitoring them the same way? In fact, they are. They are all in favor of weeding out crooks and thieves, making society more secure. You would understand why if you had ever been to China.

BaltimoreMediaBlog said:
If the Chinese people are so dumb that they want to be spied on hourly by their government, so be it. Dumb is as dumb does.
Let them have WeChat. But what happens in China should stay in China. Let them suffer. I won't lose any sleep. We should be creating some new apps that spy on them too, tit for tat if they like it so much.
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alpi123 said:
Surveys tell you one thing, but it's a different thing how many in reality would actually give up their iPhones.
I'm 99% sure it's as easy to just switch to another app.
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Which I’m 99% sure will never happen for 99% of those Chinese people.
iReality85 said:
That honestly sounds awful. Everything in society being based around one, single monopolistic app? No thanks.



Exactly right.
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Yet it happens. Awful it is, communist party managed to pull off just that. You’d be happy you are not born in China or has to deal with many Chinese people on a regular basis.
 
The problem with India is that most people on that market can't afford Apple products, and they will opt for much cheaper solutions. Chinese solutions. So China will win hands down however you twist this aggression against them. Pompeo will lose.

ian87w said:
Well, maybe it's time for Apple to actually put a focus on other parts of Asia other than China. China is definitely a huge market, most populous country in the world. But there's no 2 (India) and no 4 (Indonesia) that are mostly ignored by Apple.

Unless Apple can somehow negotiate with the US government for a solution (eg. only banning the app for US app store), Apple would probably become a very small player in China, just like Samsung.
Click to expand...
 
macdos said:
The problem with India is that most people on that market can't afford Apple products, and they will opt for much cheaper solutions. Chinese solutions. So China will win hands down however you twist this aggression against them. Pompeo will lose.
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What am I twisting? Not sure where you're going with your reply.
 
If Trump forces Apple to remove this app from their Apple store in China Apple is pretty much screwed big time. I would bet on a 30-50% drop in iPhone sales in China and maybe even quite a bit in the US. In fact not just drop in sales China but Middle East as well as many in the Middle East use WeChat as a form of communication between Middle East and China for business.

This administration is really pushing their luck and testing their limits with China now.
 
benshive said:
Sadly that may not be a luxury available to them. The Chinese government has banned all major social media networks and from what I've read seems to be okay with WeChat because they use it for mass surveillance of their citizens.
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And the US is ok with all the ones that they can use for mass surveillance of their citizens as well except for the ones that they can’t use. The irony and hypocrisy in this is criticism of others then doubt the same thing.
 
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