The smartphone industry is in a fix. Mobile phone operators are trying to stoke excitement for super-fast 5G networks, but Donald Trump keeps killing the mood.
The American president’s crusade against Chinese telecoms giant Huawei over spying fears is throwing well-laid plans into disarray. On Wednesday, Vodafone and EE had to pull Huawei phones from their 5G network launches after Trump banned the company from buying American goods such as Google software.
A day later, the British chip designer ARM was forced to sever ties with Huawei for the same reason.
IQE, a supplier of wafer semiconductor technology for smartphone microchips, is also caught in the crossfire. The tech minnow, valued at £555m on London’s junior AIM market, admitted on Friday that the Huawei export