White House Advisor Suggests Some of Apple’s Technology May Have Been Stolen by China

Corporate espionage is certainly not a new thing in 2019 (almost typed 2018 there), but at least one White House advisor is coming forward to suggest something pretty bold.

Larry Kudlow is the Director of the National Economic Council and an advisor to the President of the United States. CNBC is reporting on Friday that the advisor has reason to believe, and is therefore saying it aloud, that China has managed to steal some of Apple’s technology as it relates to smartphones and that’s why the country has become such a huge presence in the smartphone market.

At this point, there isn’t much to go on here. According to Kudlow there are “indications”, but, at least at the time of publication and what’s known publicly, there is also “nothing concrete” and there is no enforcement happening right now:

“I don’t want to surmise too much here, but Apple technology may have been picked off by China and now China is becoming very competitive with Apple. You’ve got to have rule of law,” Kudlow said in an interview with Bloomberg. “There are some indications from China that they’re looking at that, but we don’t know that yet. There’s no enforcement; there’s nothing concrete.”

It isn’t a secret that Chinese smartphone manufacturers have certainly seen a surge in the global market, especially from the likes of Huawei. That company, however, along with ZTE, are not welcomed in the United States at all now, with the current administration pointing to national security concerns for blocking both companies from government employee usage (and perhaps even the hardware rollout support for 5G networks in the U.S.).

However, those Chinese smartphone manufacturers typically rely on forked versions of Google’s mobile software, Android. Up to this point there hasn’t been any clear indication that any of these companies have outright stolen technology from Apple to help boost their own efforts. Now, that doesn’t mean these companies haven’t copied Apple in some way or another. Xiaomi, for instance, is well known for taking plenty of design cues from the iPhone over the years. But copying the iPhone is not a new experience by any means, and not strictly shouldered by Chinese smartphone manufacturers.

There is an ongoing trade dispute between the U.S. and China, which has directly impacted Apple as a whole — and one that may directly impact Apple customers in the future. The fact that Kudlow is coming forward and saying these vague statements can’t do anything but ruffle even more feathers moving forward.

[via CNBC]

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