iPhone 6 is not new to Chinese users

Several people familiar with the Chinese mobile device market said that Apple's new iPhone is not a big innovation for the Chinese market.

“The products that Apple is launching are bluff for the Chinese market,” Gary Rieschel, a venture capitalist at Qiming Venture Partners, said at the Dragon Talk event in Silicon Valley. “The payment service that Apple is launching is not innovative compared to what’s already available in the Chinese market. The products launched this time are not groundbreaking. There is no need for Apple’s competitors to be concerned in the Chinese market.” He noted that both Baidu and Alibaba already offer mobile payment services.

However, Rischel also said that although the new iPhone is not very outstanding in terms of creativity, it "further strengthens Apple's position that Apple offers the best mobile phone in the industry." Users upgrading to the new iPhone will ensure Apple's revenue source because at least half of iPhone users have used their current phones for two years.

Chris Evdemon, partner at Kai-Fu Lee's Innovation Works in San Francisco, said he has seen the wave of innovation spread back from China to the United States, especially in the field of consumer mobile technology. He said: "Chinese mobile applications have surpassed similar products in Europe and the United States. This is because in China, developers need to face the most difficult consumer market in the world, where consumers want everything for free and have very low loyalty." However, in the B2B enterprise market, Chinese developers still lag behind their American counterparts.

He sees an ongoing flow of ideas between the U.S. and China, thanks to the large number of Chinese engineers working at Silicon Valley companies. “They are observing what’s going on and bringing it back to China.”

Rischel said the time gap for innovation across the Pacific has shrunk to the speed of the internet.

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.