Praise from Readers:

"This book popularizes the brutal growth history of Chinese mobile phones."

"5G is a crucial technological innovation and positioning. Huawei has an advantage, but mobile application processors are even more critical. The fact that 5nm is the end of Moore’s Law indeed gives China a great opportunity. But Ren Zhengfei’s early judgment that future operating systems and chips could become bottlenecks, and his firm investment in self‑developing Kirin, HarmonyOS, and various chips like Kunpeng—that strategic vision is truly surprising."

"Reading this book alongside Chip War gives a better understanding of the development history of the semiconductor industry and the current market distribution. What impresses me most: in the semiconductor industry, driven by continuous exponential change under Moore’s Law, you need both a sound long‑term strategy and the ability to adapt to changes in order to survive in such turbulence."

★ A panoramic popular history of the rise and fall of mobile phone brands and the hidden struggles of the global information industry.
From Huawei, Xiaomi, OV to Meizu and Smartisan; from Motorola to Nokia and Samsung, this book for the first time connects the past and present of Chinese and foreign mobile phone brands in language accessible to general readers, revealing the breathtaking national-level industrial competition behind chips, operating systems, and communication standards.

★ Focuses on critical "bottleneck" issues such as 5G, chips, and operating systems, combining hardcore tech knowledge with business strategy insights.
Shares key technology stories about HiSilicon Kirin, HarmonyOS, the end of Moore’s Law, and 5nm manufacturing processes, restoring Huawei’s strategic foresight in self-developed chips and operating systems. Resonates with hot topics like "chip wars," suitable for tech professionals, investors, and general readers interested in great-power rivalry.

★ From 1G void to 5G leadership, this book uses mobile phones as a window to observe China’s industrial rise and Sino‑US competition.
It shows how China integrated into global mobile communication standards and the life‑and‑death struggles among China, the US, Japan, South Korea, and Europe in semiconductors, software, and the internet, offering a highly readable perspective for understanding current technology and independent innovation.

This book tells the development history of major mobile phone brands in China and around the world, as well as the stories of competition among related industries and nations. The main thread is the development of mobile phones and the directly related industries of computing, mobile communications, software, and semiconductors. The sub‑thread is national‑level industrial competition among China, the United States, East Asia, and Europe.

The book is divided into two parts. The first part mainly tells the development stories of major mobile phone brands except Huawei. The second part focuses on Huawei’s mobile phone history and deeply analyzes the Sino‑US great‑power competition behind Huawei, and even the global economy and the future of human society. Written for a general audience, the book strives to clearly explain, in plain language, the history and current state of the dramatic competition behind a small mobile phone and the strategic industries of various countries.

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Huawei, OPPO, vivo, Xiaomi, Apple—the past and present of China’s top five mobile phone brands.
Honor, Redmi, realme, iQOO, OnePlus—which internet smartphone brand will come out on top?
Motorola, Nokia, Ericsson, ZTE, Lenovo, Coolpad, Gionee, Samsung—do you still have any of these brands in your hands?
Meizu, LeEco, 360, Smartisan—where should niche, beautifully crafted phones go?
Motorola led the 1G era, Nokia claimed the 2G throne, Apple and Samsung dominated 3G, Huawei rose in 4G—who will rule 5G?
Microsoft Windows, Japan’s TRON, Red Flag Linux, Nokia’s Symbian, Apple iOS, Google Android, Alibaba Cloud OS, Huawei HarmonyOS—the winner‑takes‑all battle of operating systems.
HiSilicon Kirin and Balong, Apple A‑series, Qualcomm Snapdragon, MediaTek chips, Xiaomi, Pengpai, Intel processors—the little‑known stories of the mobile phone “chip war.”
1G void, 2G follower, 3G breakthrough, 4G synchronous, 5G leading—how China integrated into global mobile communication standards.
China, US, Japan, South Korea, and the EU—the information industry war from semiconductors, software, and communications to the internet.
With 5G come the IoT, cloud services, and AI—will they open the door to a new era after the end of Moore’s Law?

A small mobile phone contains an application processor, baseband processor, memory, display, operating system, and application services—condensing the entire information industry from chips, mobile communications, computing hardware, and software to the mobile internet.

Yu Sheng

Industry Mentor at the Netherlands Business School, writer specializing in hard‑tech and economic history, strategic consultant, and consumer marketing expert.

He has worked at several globally renowned companies including McDonald’s, ZTE, Yihai Kerry, and Evergrande. He excels in marketing management, corporate management, industry research, and strategic consulting, and is acclaimed as a master writer of technological history masterpieces.

His published representative works include "The War of Chips", "The Chip Wave", "The Empire of Grain and Oil Behind Arawana" and "The War of Mobilephone", which have long dominated the WeChat Reading “masterpiece” rankings.

Prologue

Part I: Spring and Autumn in the Palm

Chapter 1: The Convergence of Computer Stars
The Rise and Fall of Apple Computer
Microsoft’s Takeoff and the US‑Japan Trade War
The Failure of Red “Soul” and Ark “Chip”
Steve Jobs Returns to Apple

Chapter 2: Three Powers Struggle in the Feature Phone Era
Motorola Opens the Era
Nokia Turns the Tables
Symbian Leads the Early 3G Era

Chapter 3: The Second Korean Who Defeated Japan
Samsung Enters the Semiconductor Industry
The Semiconductor Industry Makes Samsung
Samsung Mobile Forged Through Toughness

Chapter 4: The Hidden Giant Behind Apple
The Design of the iPhone
Foxconn, King of Contract Manufacturing
The iPhone Debuts
TSMC, the Wafer Foundry

Chapter 5: Huaqiangbei Doesn’t Believe in Tears
Betting on Phones
Rain of Phones
The Legacy of Shanzhai Phones

Chapter 6: Xiaomi – Born for the Enthusiast
Meizu’s Success and the Birth of Xiaomi
Xiaomi’s Fan Economy
The Limitations of Xiaomi’s Value‑for‑Money Strategy

Chapter 7: The Collapse of the Nokia Empire
Facing the Threat of Apple and Google
Marriage with Microsoft
Why Nokia Lost

Chapter 8: The 1 Billion Yuan Bet Between Lei Jun and Ms. Dong
Gee’s Unbreakable Phone
Xiaomi Wants to Sell Air Conditioners Too
The Chip Paths of Xiaomi and Gree

Chapter 9: The BBK Phone Family
From Subor to BBK
OPPO and vivo’s Road to Success
OnePlus – Staying True
Newcomers realme and iQOO

Chapter 10: Meizu Ascends to the Alibaba Cloud
Wang Jian’s Courage and the Birth of Meilan
Redmi Stands Alone, Xiaomi Breaks Through
From Meizu’s Disenchantment to Alibaba Cloud Auto Intelligence

Chapter 11: LeEco – Choking on Dreams
LeEco Interferes in the Qi‑Cool Affair
360 as a Dark Horse and LeEco Running Blind
The Oligopolistic Chinese Mobile Phone Market

Part II: The Warring States of Communications

Chapter 12: Lenovo Still Daydreams
“M&A + Low Cost” Makes PC Leadership
Lenovo Mobile That Wouldn’t Wake Up
What Lenovo May Have Missed

Chapter 13: Apple After Jobs
The Death of Steve Jobs
The Love‑Hate Relationship Between Apple and Samsung
Phones Drawn into Military and Intelligence

Chapter 14: The Qualcomm Antitrust Case
Qualcomm’s Global Antitrust Lawsuits
The Clashes Between Apple, Broadcom, and Qualcomm
Behind the Qualcomm Antitrust Case

Chapter 15: The US Sanctions on ZTE
Why Was ZTE Choked?
The Impact of ZTE’s Punishment
Trump Takes Office and the US Policy Shift

Chapter 16: Huawei Phone – Reborn Anew
From Refusing to Make Phones to Determined to Make Them
“Behind Greatness Lies Great Suffering”
Ren Zhengfei’s Boasts Come True Again

Chapter 17: Huawei’s 5G Achievement
A Century‑Old Company Dismembered
Why 5G Panics the US
The Internet of Things and Artificial Intelligence

Chapter 18: The US Trap
What’s the New Stunt Against Meng Wanzhou?
The Bizarre Ordeal of Pierucci
A Big Game Tangled Around One Woman

Chapter 19: Trump Declares War on Huawei
Huawei Placed on the US “Entity List”
The “Chip” and “Soul” That Huawei Shattered
The Most Thorough US Policy Failure in History

Chapter 20: The South Korean Goliath Meets the Japanese David
Samsung’s “Battery Gate”
The Japan‑South Korea Trade War
South Korea’s Vulnerability and China’s Opportunity

Chapter 21: A Superpower on the Brink of Bankruptcy
Soybeans and Chips
Trump Cornered
Opportunities for China’s Semiconductor Industry

Chapter 22: A World Where Moore’s Law Fails
How the Information Industry Ended Traditional Warfare
The Impact of the End of Moore’s Law
Cyber Warfare
The Emergence of New Modes of Warfare

Epilogue
Main References