Forget Harris vs. Trump. In China, there’s only one clash that people are talking about this week: Apple vs. Huawei.

The tech giants are going head-to-head in the world’s largest smartphone market by launching rival handsets on the same day, Sept. 20, sparking a frenzy of discussion on Chinese social media.

On Tuesday, the companies added to the hype by holding back-to-back product launch events. Apple debuted the iPhone 16 during an event in California, with Huawei showcasing its new foldable Mate XT model a few hours later at its headquarters in the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen.

The rivalry between the American and Chinese brands has captured the public’s imagination in China, where ongoing technology and trade tensions with the United States are being keenly felt.

The twin launch events were the top trending topic on the microblogging platform Weibo on Tuesday, receiving over 71 million views.

It’s too early at this stage to tell which side will come out on top. But Huawei looks to have the momentum, after staging a remarkable comeback in its home market over the past year.

U.S. sanctions crippled Huawei’s smartphone business from 2019, but the Chinese firm rebuilt its ability to manufacture premium handsets by developing its own semiconductors and operating system.

In 2023, Huawei re-entered China’s high-end smartphone market with the launch of the Mate 60. Within months, it was outselling Apple, leading the U.S. company to take the rare step of cutting its prices in China.

In the second quarter of 2024, Huawei was the second highest-selling smartphone maker in China with an 18.1% market share (domestic smartphone maker Vivo maintained its top position), while Apple fell to the sixth place for the first time in years, according to data from market intelligence firm International Data Corporation.

Huawei also appeared to win the public relations battle on Tuesday, with its Mate XT generating significant buzz due to its foldable design: It is the first mass-market handset with an ultra-thin screen that contains a double rather than a single fold, which unfurls to create a 10.2-inch surface.

“After five years of persistence, we have achieved an innovation that others have thought of but not accomplished,” Yu Chengdong, Huawei’s chief executive, wrote in a post on Weibo.

The Mate XT received even more publicity due to the support of patriotic tech bloggers, who celebrated Huawei’s achievement in producing a cutting-edge device using homegrown technology.

“The significance of Huawei’s triple-folding screen is not only the creation of a completely new form of smartphone, but also the integration of the Kirin chip, which is produced by a purely domestic industrial chain not restricted by Western countries, along with the HarmonyOS system,” wrote one influencer with over 1.3 million followers on Weibo, referencing the smartphone maker’s in-house made operating system. “It’s a truly domestic product from the inside out.”

Huawei has set a high price tag for the Mate XT, with the premium version topping out at 23,999 yuan ($3,375). But that hasn’t discouraged buyers. The handset has already received more than 5 million preorders on Chinese platforms.

On the secondhand goods platform Xianyu, some users have even offered to pay a 10,000-yuan premium to secure access to a Mate XT.

By contrast, Apple’s launch of the iPhone 16 generated a lukewarm response in China, with many netizens disappointed by the fact that Apple Intelligence will not be available to mainland consumers until at least next year.

The artificial intelligence-powered feature is the main selling point of the new iPhone, but Apple has yet to confirm whether it will make the service available in China.

The delay puts Apple at a disadvantage in the Chinese market, as domestic rivals including OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi have already launched their own AI-powered smartphones.

The iPhone 16, which will be priced at up to 13,999 yuan in China, does contain a number of other upgrades, including new camera controls and a longer battery life. But it’s unclear to what extent these will win over Chinese consumers — Apple will begin accepting preorders on Sept. 13. On Weibo, netizens appeared unimpressed.

“The iPhone 16 series just doesn’t cut it for a brand as iconic as Apple,” read one of the most-upvoted comments on Weibo. “This update is nothing more than a few superficial fixes: a camera control button, a camera layout shuffle, a slightly larger screen, slimmer bezels, and a few more color choices.”

If the iPhone 16 underperforms, it will put Apple under further pressure in China. In May, the company reported its largest quarterly drop in global iPhone sales since the COVID-19 pandemic, though there are signs recent price cuts are helping to win back Chinese consumers.

In the global market, however, the U.S. tech giant is unlikely to face strong competition from Chinese smartphone makers, despite Huawei’s recent technological breakthroughs, Xiang Ligang, director general of the Beijing-based Information Consumption Alliance, told domestic media.

“Apple has occupied a dominant position in the global high-end market,” said Xiang. “Other domestic brands are also committed to breaking into the high-end market, but they are still unable to compete with Apple.”

(Header image: Visitors take a look at the Mate XT, a new triple-folding phone, at a Huawei store in Beijing, Sept. 10, 2024. VCG)