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To... Apple. First time I heard about a Huawei ban of smartphones was also the year where I heard that Huawei was about to sell more than Apple in the US, if I remember correctly.

Many people around me liked Huawei because they were seeing it as the Android brand that "is closest to Apple".

> Sounds like you’re making stuff up.

Don't get me wrong: I am not part of the US government and I was not part of the official decision. I'm just sharing my opinion :-).

US vendors slept on 5G, and Huawei prepared end-to-end gear, from backend systems through antennas to handsets. This resulted in Huawei getting a lot more deployment in 5G, and triggered less than open retaliation. The handsets themselves were minor issue compared to possibility of China eating US' lunch on 5G.

Huawei was on a trajectory to become the biggest smartphone vendor in the world, when they were kneecapped in 2019, mostly by blocking their access to Google services (which cratered their sales outside of China).

https://www.canalys.com/newsroom/canalys-global-smartphone-m...