How did smartphones become a diplomatic weapon for major powers?

Recently, there were news reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin presented Chinese President Xi Jinping with a Russian-made smartphone. Even before the APEC meeting began, there were media reports that President Xi Jinping would also present a certain brand of domestically made smartphones to dignitaries from various countries at the meeting. Earlier, Xi Jinping's wife Peng Liyuan used a domestically made smartphone to take photos at diplomatic occasions, which also caused a strong response at home and abroad. It has to be said that smartphones have become a diplomatic weapon for major powers, so what are the deep-seated reasons behind this? Donglou might as well analyze and interpret it:

1. Smartphones reflect a country’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities

As smartphones become more technologically advanced and their functions more powerful, they have become a reflection of a country's overall technological level, or a window for displaying its technological innovation capabilities. The Russian-made dual-screen smartphone that Putin presented to President Xi Jinping is obviously also an indirect display of Russia's technological level to the outside world.

Moreover, the production and manufacturing of a smartphone involves many core technologies such as operating system, LCD panel, CPU, sensor, etc. These patented technologies are mostly in the hands of technology companies in developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and South Korea. If smartphones can achieve all domestic accessories and components, it also proves that the country's technological level has reached a fairly high level. However, at present, my country still has too little independent technology for mobile phone manufacturing. A data shows that as a major mobile phone manufacturing country, my country produces 77% of the world's mobile phones each year, but less than 3% of its own chips.

2. The mobile phone industry may become an important economic pillar of the country

On the other hand, as a large-scale economic industry, the mobile phone industry can create huge profits. Take Apple for example. The iPhone is Apple's absolute flagship product. In March this year, it has sold more than 500 million units. At present, Apple's market value ranks first in the world, reaching more than 650 billion US dollars. Samsung, also an international mobile phone manufacturer, has sold more than 100 million models and its market value is nearly 200 billion US dollars.

Objectively speaking, the sales of domestic mobile phone manufacturers are already quite good. Xiaomi and Lenovo have previously announced that they have become the top three in international sales, which also means that domestic manufacturers have gradually stepped onto the international stage. However, the current prices of domestic smartphones are still at a relatively low level, and the profits are still far from those of Apple and Samsung. However, in any case, as an industry with such a large economic scale, no country can fail to elevate it to the level of economic strategy. Therefore, the game between national economic interests is also likely to be an important reason why smartphones have become a weapon of great power diplomacy.

3. Smartphones have evolved into human organs

On the other hand, this also shows that mobile phones will be a necessity for both national leaders and ordinary people. Especially now that smartphones integrate voice calls, video and photo taking, text messaging, and various applications, it is becoming more and more realistic to say that they are an important "organ" of the human body.

Moreover, statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology also show that by the end of May 2014, the number of mobile phone users in China had reached 1.256 billion, which means that 90.8% of the Chinese population were using mobile phones. This also means that it is close to becoming a reality for everyone to have a smartphone, especially in the era of mobile Internet. After installing various applications on smartphones, smartphones have become a universal "organ" that can solve the problems of food, clothing, housing and transportation. Moreover, the popularity of smartphones is also quite high.

4. Smartphones may lead the third communications revolution

Smartphones have developed to this day and still have great room for imagination. It is no exaggeration to say that the continuous advancement of mobile phone technology may even change the country's economic process. We all know that there have been two communication technology revolutions around mobile phones. First of all, the emergence of mobile phones allows people to receive short messages and make real-time calls anytime and anywhere, allowing information to be transmitted quickly, changing people's lifestyles. This is the first mobile communication revolution. The emergence of smartphones has led to another communication revolution, further changing people's mobile lives, and the order of the Internet industry has also been subverted and changed. In particular, the large-scale popularization of smartphones and the increase in the speed of mobile networks have enabled the explosion of mobile Internet products, ushering in the current mobile Internet era.

Most importantly, smartphones are the most important terminals that connect people and services. Currently, there is no trend of other smart devices replacing smartphones. Therefore, smartphones will continue to play a very important role in our lives in the future, and may even lead the third communication technology revolution. In this sense, the importance of smartphone technology innovation should be elevated to the level of national strategy.

In short, the fact that smartphones can enter the diplomatic arena and become state gifts exchanged between leaders of major countries is itself a major boon to the mobile phone manufacturing industry. The frequent endorsement of domestic mobile phones by national leaders will also further accelerate the internationalization process of domestic mobile phones.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.