Trump Demands Apple to Develop 5G

On Wednesday, November 20, 2019, President Trump inspected Apple’s production line in Austin, Texas. For now, this is Apple’s only production facility in the United States that is responsible for the final assembly of products. Trump’s trip to Texas and contact with the Chief Executive Officer of Apple, Tim Cook, has attracted much attention, especially after Trump’s new Twitter post on Thursday wanting Apple to be involved in the 5G network building in the U.S.

“They have it all – Money, Technology, Vision & Cook!” Trump tweeted.

The U.S. government has previously banned Huawei, a Chinese technology giant, from selling its telecommunications equipment into the U.S. in order to prevent them from participating in the construction of 5G networks in the U.S. (something Huawei has already successfully achieved in China). The United States has previously alleged Huawei’s intention to use the technology for spying, which the company has repeatedly denied.

However, after Trump’s tweet, Apple and the White House did not immediately respond to it and Apple is not yet known to have any intentions for investigating 5G telecoms infrastructures nor to release a 5G device. On the other hand, the American media poured cold water on to Trump’s tweet. CNET, an IT news website, mercilessly criticized Trump for his seemingly vague understanding of Apple or 5G.

AISG junior Jennifer F., a Chinese student said, “I think that there is a great possibility that Apple or other companies in the U.S. will start investigating 5G around 2020. However, I think that 5G would have deficiencies due to the lack of knowledge and investigation in 5G compared to Huawei.”

In multiple additional short interviews with juniors at AISG, most of their initial response to whether they think Apple would start developing 5G technology was “I don’t know” or “I think they will, but it won’t be fully developed compared to Huawei.”

Many people remain skeptical about the idea that Apple will start developing 5G, but one thing is for certain. Without 5G, the United States will have a tremendous setback in many different ways, especially in the field of technology development.