Mr. Shangkong | Foreign smartphone brands like Apple a victim of rising Chinese nationalism
Buying a smartphone is becoming more like a patriotic decision for many Chinese consumers
Almost everything in China could be political, including your decision to buy your next smartphone - whether you choose foreign brands like Apple or you support a national brand like Huawei.
Ahead of Wednesday's scheduled launch of Apple's new iPhone 6S smartphone, state broadcaster China Central Television ran a Quality Report programme that strongly criticised the performance of cameras in a number of top-selling foreign smartphones, including Apple's iPhone 6 and Samsung's Galaxy S5.
The programme said Chinese authorities tested 10 smartphones sold in the country and found that at least eight failed to reach national standards for digital cameras, including devices made by foreign brands Apple, Samsung, Nokia and Sony.
To be fair, CCTV also named four domestic brands - Lenovo, Oppo, TCL and Nubia - in the report, but it focused the most on quality issues with Apple and Samsung products.
The two most popular national brands - Xiaomi and Huawei - were not mentioned.
According to a market survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association earlier this year, 59 per cent of Chinese respondents agreed that buying domestic technology products could support the Chinese economy, something those considering themselves patriotic should do.
China has improved rapidly in technology and innovation for the past decade. Its homegrown smartphone Xiaomi has also become popular in foreign markets like India, competing with Apple and Samsung on the world stage.