How the tech war affects your favorite gadgets

How the crisis that engulfed Huawei could affect DJI, OnePlus or Lenovo

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Lenovo’s ThinkPad laptops are one of the best-selling brands among US shoppers. (Picture: Bobby Yip/Reuters)

Published: 9:31pm, 27 May 2019Updated: 9:05am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

When news came that future Huawei smartphones will no longer come with Google apps like Google Maps and the Google Play store, it’s likely that most American consumers reacted with a collective shrug. After all, Huawei handsets -- save for a few models from sub-brand Honor -- aren’t officially sold in the US.

But there are other Chinese gadgets far more popular with American shoppers that might fall victim to the brewing US tech war with China.

Laptops

Lenovo is one of the top three PC vendors in the US. As with all PC makers that rely on Chinese factories, Lenovo is facing new potential tariffs proposed by President Trump earlier this month. The plan, scheduled for a public hearing in June, will tax laptop imports by up to 25%.

Lenovo has said it can move more of its manufacturing outside China if the tariffs become too high. Other companies with less flexible arrangements, though, may not have that luxury in the short run.

Adjusting supply chains is also costly. Apple, for instance, currently assembles most of its MacBooks in China, according to a Jeffries analyst. The supply chain and skills of overseas workers are just a couple of the reasons Apple co-founder Steve Jobs told then-US president Barack Obama, “Those jobs aren’t coming back [to the US].”