China's Huawei to Host Product Launch Event on Sept 25

FILE PHOTO: Pricing details of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphones are seen on smartphones displayed at a Huawei store in Shanghai, China September 8, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Pricing details of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphones are seen on smartphones displayed at a Huawei store in Shanghai, China September 8, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
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China's Huawei to Host Product Launch Event on Sept 25

FILE PHOTO: Pricing details of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphones are seen on smartphones displayed at a Huawei store in Shanghai, China September 8, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Pricing details of Huawei's Mate 60 Pro smartphones are seen on smartphones displayed at a Huawei store in Shanghai, China September 8, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

China's Huawei Technologies said on Thursday it will hold a media event to discuss new products on Sept. 25, fanning expectations that details about recently released smartphones will be revealed.

Its Mate 60 series is in the spotlight - both for the use of a China-made advanced chip and because the series likely marks the first major attempt by Huawei's smartphone business to come back from crippling US sanctions.

Reuters said that Huawei did not elaborate on the new products that will be discussed but domestic business daily Yicai reported that information about its latest phones will be disclosed.

Huawei started selling its latest high-end smartphones Mate 60 and Mate 60 Pro at the end of last month and last week it started presales for its Mate 60 Pro+ smartphone alongside a new foldable phone Mate X5.

The series' launch was unusual in that Huawei did not carry out any pre-marketing or organize a glitzy event. Even so, the phones have caused a stir, with the first sales coinciding with a trip to China by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and because the Pro version was found to be using a 5G-capable chip made by a Chinese company.

How Huawei's phones will fare against Apple at a time of heightened US-Sino tensions will be of much interest to investors and China watchers.

The launch of Apple's iPhone 15 series this week has drawn mixed reactions in China - the company's third-largest market - with many online users liking its faster chip and improved gaming capabilities while others preferred Huawei's new smartphone.

Further denting Apple's sheen in China, the government has expanded curbs on the use of iPhones by state employees, with some told not to use them at work.

The state-backed Securities Times this week reported that Huawei had raised its Mate 60 series second-half shipment target by 20% due to better-than-expected sales.

Huawei, once the world's largest smartphone maker, saw that business decimated after the US started restricting tech exports to the company in 2019.
The US and other Western governments have labelled Huawei a security risk, a charge the company denies. Since then, Huawei has only sold limited batches of 5G models using stockpiled chips.



Meta Hit with Fines by Türkiye after Refusing to Restrict Content on Facebook, Instagram

Instagram app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Instagram app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Meta Hit with Fines by Türkiye after Refusing to Restrict Content on Facebook, Instagram

Instagram app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Instagram app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken, July 13, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Meta said it has been hit with a hefty fine for resisting Turkish government demands to limit content on Facebook and Instagram.

“We pushed back on requests from the Turkish government to restrict content that is clearly in the public interest, and have been fined by them as a consequence,” the company said in a statement.

The social media company did not disclose the size of the fine, except to say it was “substantial” and did not provide any more details about the content in question. The Associated Press has approached the Turkish government for comment.

“Government requests to restrict speech online alongside threats to shut down online services are severe and have a chilling effect on people’s ability to express themselves,” Meta said.

In recent years the Turkish government has increasingly sought to bring social media companies under its control. When protests erupted following the March 19 arrest of opposition Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, many social media platforms such as X, Instagram and Facebook were blocked.

More than 700 individual X accounts, including those belonging to journalists, media outlets, civil society organizations and student groups, were blocked, according to the Media and Law Studies Association. X said it would object.

Dozens have been arrested for social media posts deemed to be supporting the protests.