Huawei beats Apple in China-focused corporate reputation survey
An annual study released by the Reputation Institute on Thursday claims Apple's stature in China in slumping, with the iPhone maker falling behind a number of U.S.-based multinational tech companies and local telecommunications giant Huawei.
According to the research firm's China RepTrak 2018 survey, as reported by the South China Morning Post, Apple sits in the No. 12 spot with a score of 69.7 points, down 8.7 points since 2012. By comparison, top performer Intel received a score of 73.6.
Following close behind the U.S. chipmaker was Huawei with a score of 72, while Rolex, Google and Haier rounded out the top five. Nokia and Microsoft also placed better than Apple on this year's RepTrak, though Microsoft was assigned an identical 69.7 point score.
The survey polled more than 29,500 Chinese respondents on some 280 companies, both domestic and international. A variety of corporate metrics went into each firm's final tally, including trust, admiration, esteem, brand communication and more.
Contrasting Apple's performance with that of Huawei, the Cupertino tech giant was, somewhat surprisingly, found lacking in terms of transparency and open communication. Corporate transparency is a point of pride for Apple, which routinely releases reports regarding environmental impact, government surveillance, hiring practices, supplier responsibility and other topics of interest.
Perhaps more interesting is Apple's public perception. Some 70 percent of respondents said Huawei "stands out from the crowd," while only 61 percent of those polled said the same for Apple. Further, Chinese consumers find Huawei twice as "genuine" as Apple, according to the survey.
The Reputation Institute related Apple's sagging repute to that of partner supplier Foxconn, which received an "average" score of 67.6 for 2018. While not as apparent to the general Western consumer, Apple and Foxconn's relationship is largely common knowledge in China, where Foxconn operates a majority of its factories.
The report notes Apple's reputation dropped 8.7 points since a series of damning articles shined a light on subpar working conditions at Foxconn plants. In early 2012, a New York Times report cited former Apple executives as saying the company ignored labor abuses in supplier factories for years. Follow-up investigations from CNN, ABC and other outlets spurred action from Apple, including stricter partner policies, independent audits and self-funded workers' rights programs.
China has become an increasingly important region for Apple as the company seeks continued worldwide growth amid slowing global trends. Analysis of iPhone sales -- Apple's main revenue driver -- in the country are conflicting, with some citing recent growth and others estimating a decline in shipments.
Apple remains committed to the market, as evidenced by CEO Tim Cook's participation as co-chair of this year's China Development Forum in March. The company has also acquiesced to stringent cybersecurity laws that call for all Chinese consumer data to be stored on local servers, a move critics say opens the door to government surveillance.
Reputation Institute's China results follow the firm's Global RepTrak findings, which saw Apple's worldwide reputation continue to decline in 2018, landing the company in 58th place, down 38 spots from last year.
According to the research firm's China RepTrak 2018 survey, as reported by the South China Morning Post, Apple sits in the No. 12 spot with a score of 69.7 points, down 8.7 points since 2012. By comparison, top performer Intel received a score of 73.6.
Following close behind the U.S. chipmaker was Huawei with a score of 72, while Rolex, Google and Haier rounded out the top five. Nokia and Microsoft also placed better than Apple on this year's RepTrak, though Microsoft was assigned an identical 69.7 point score.
The survey polled more than 29,500 Chinese respondents on some 280 companies, both domestic and international. A variety of corporate metrics went into each firm's final tally, including trust, admiration, esteem, brand communication and more.
Contrasting Apple's performance with that of Huawei, the Cupertino tech giant was, somewhat surprisingly, found lacking in terms of transparency and open communication. Corporate transparency is a point of pride for Apple, which routinely releases reports regarding environmental impact, government surveillance, hiring practices, supplier responsibility and other topics of interest.
Perhaps more interesting is Apple's public perception. Some 70 percent of respondents said Huawei "stands out from the crowd," while only 61 percent of those polled said the same for Apple. Further, Chinese consumers find Huawei twice as "genuine" as Apple, according to the survey.
The Reputation Institute related Apple's sagging repute to that of partner supplier Foxconn, which received an "average" score of 67.6 for 2018. While not as apparent to the general Western consumer, Apple and Foxconn's relationship is largely common knowledge in China, where Foxconn operates a majority of its factories.
The report notes Apple's reputation dropped 8.7 points since a series of damning articles shined a light on subpar working conditions at Foxconn plants. In early 2012, a New York Times report cited former Apple executives as saying the company ignored labor abuses in supplier factories for years. Follow-up investigations from CNN, ABC and other outlets spurred action from Apple, including stricter partner policies, independent audits and self-funded workers' rights programs.
China has become an increasingly important region for Apple as the company seeks continued worldwide growth amid slowing global trends. Analysis of iPhone sales -- Apple's main revenue driver -- in the country are conflicting, with some citing recent growth and others estimating a decline in shipments.
Apple remains committed to the market, as evidenced by CEO Tim Cook's participation as co-chair of this year's China Development Forum in March. The company has also acquiesced to stringent cybersecurity laws that call for all Chinese consumer data to be stored on local servers, a move critics say opens the door to government surveillance.
Reputation Institute's China results follow the firm's Global RepTrak findings, which saw Apple's worldwide reputation continue to decline in 2018, landing the company in 58th place, down 38 spots from last year.
Comments
I guess more genuine in stealing designs.
Huawei is ahead of Apple in many areas. I think we can agree on that even if you do it begrudgingly.
Design and brand perception are important factors and have an influence on sales. Just how much is the real question.
There are some people who rate design very high and wouldn't be seen dead with something that wasn't 'in'. Some see the company itself as a status symbol. Of course, there are others who simply seek value for money on a decent handset. I'm basically in that last group but when you are operating in saturated markets it's wise to try and claw in users from all groups.
I have read about anti Apple sentiment in China flowing onto social networks as a result of the pressure applied to carriers and retailers to keep Huawei's effective presence in the US to virtually zero. I have no idea if it is actually true. I have read two accounts of Tim Cook actually asking for protection from Huawei in the US market at government level. Something I didn't give credence to. If there was an ounce of truth in that it would have been widely reported. However, following the protectionist moves by the US government it has been revealed (a couple of days ago) that Tim Cook and Donald Trump spoke specifically on the China situation (no doubt from an Apple perspective) during their private meeting. Last week we read about a decline of Apple in some of its core EU markets with Huawei showing very strong growth. On Tuesday, Huawei's Honor brand revealed that it's UK sales had increased 100% YoY for Q1. Yesterday, Canalys reported that Apple had fallen to 4th place in Spain (overtaken by Xiaomi) and that Huawei was within one percentage point of taking top spot from Samsung.
These are situations that have an influence on brand perception. Couple that with the fact that the P20 Pro is being hailed as the top smartphone bar none so far for 2018 and that perception could be reinforced and the better Huawei does away from home, the more pronounced that sensation is.
Just curious, where is the history if how these companies developed their technology prior to Apple's iPhone with its years of R&D and amazing paradigm shifting IP. Is it all a case of 'simultaneous invention' taking place across the globe or like Google, a case of jumping in once the genius is seen and ripping everything off? Perhaps they had a member of Apple's board in their pay too?
http://cpquery.sipo.gov.cn/
From some of those who spent ( a whole lotta) time counting them it looks like Apple wanted a license to 769 Huawei patents and in return Apple gave them a license to 98 Apple patents. No word on the exact amount of money that exchanged hands for the licensing rights tho it was in Huawei's favor. Some have guessed $100's of millions paid out by Apple to use Huawei intellectual property while other very knowledgeable IP licensing experts have said not so fast, it could be much less depending on how it was structured.
There are Chinese media reports too that indicate last year Apple and Huawei reached an even more broad cross-licensing agreement, but I've not found acknowledgement from either of the parties so far.
Their press always goes crazy every time a new Huawei phone comes out and almost ignores everyone else.
Their business press follows the company like crazy too, always talking about Huawei and how profitable they are.
There are horribly biased publications like BNET and CGR that are rabidly pro Huawei, influencing their people, and don't even get me started on Huawei Insider.
(bayonet pokes back)
This isn't FUD.
I'm guessing that Huawei has a 5G IP stack that Apple wants, but I'm not sure what Huawei would want from Apple that Apple would want to bargain with.
The loser in this appears to be Qualcomm, at least on the surface.