Huawei may be waging war on Apple in terms of sales, but it’s pretty clear whose devices Huawei’s CEO prefers. Spoiler: It’s seemingly not Huawei’s.

An image on Chinese social media shows Huawei CEO in an airport security line. The issue? That an airport security officer is busy inspecting his iPad. This isn’t the first time he’s shown a preference for Apple devices, either.

Huawei CEO talks up Apple wherever possible

“My children prefer Apple products over Huawei’s,” Zhengfei told Chinese media earlier this year. “Does it mean that they don’t love Huawei? Of course not … iPhone has a good ecosystem and when my family are abroad, I still buy them iPhones, so one can’t narrowly think love for Huawei should mean loving Huawei phones.”

Some of the Apple devices owned by his family have made headlines, too. When Zhengfei’s daughter Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada last year, she was carrying an iPhone, a MacBook and an iPad. Meng Wanzhou is Huawei’s CFO.

Speaking with Bloomberg, Ren Zhengfei has also heaped praise on Apple. “Apple is the world’s leading company,” he said. “If there was no Apple, there would be no mobile internet. If there was no Apple to help show us the world, we would not see the beauty of this world. Apple is my teacher – it’s advancing in front of us. As a student, why should I oppose my teacher? I would never do that.”

But there is a limit…

There is a limit to Huawei’s willingness to embrace Apple, however. At the start of 2019, Huawei punished two employees for tweeting from an iPhone by docking their salaries and demoting them.

Do you think it’s a bad look for a CEO to be seen using one of his or her rival’s products in public? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: South China Morning Post