Huawei's affiliate Dingqiao sold phones that looked like Huawei — and confused everyone

Dingqiao Communication (鼎桥通信) was founded in 2005 as a joint venture between Huawei and Siemens (later Nokia). After US sanctions restricted Huawei's access to advanced chips and Android services, Dingqiao began producing consumer phones that looked nearly identical to popular Huawei models — the Dingqiao M40 was a near-clone of the Huawei Mate 40, with the same camera bump design and外观. But underneath the familiar shell, the Dingqiao M40 used a MediaTek Dimensity chip, a 60 Hz screen, and Android instead of HarmonyOS.

The confusion was intentional or at least tolerated. Some retailers displayed the phones alongside Huawei models without clearly differentiating them, and the price point — around 4,000 yuan — was close enough to Huawei's own pricing to create the impression of a Huawei product. For two years, thousands of consumers bought Dingqiao phones thinking they were getting a Huawei device.

In December 2025, a blogger known as 'Mr. Ding' tried to get his Dingqiao M40, bought in 2022 for 3,999 yuan, upgraded at a Huawei service centre. The店员 told him, 'This is a Dingqiao M40, not a Huawei. We cannot service it.' His video recounting the experience went viral, and the brand-confusion issue that had been simmering for years finally exploded into public awareness. Consumers who had believed they owned a Huawei phone discovered they held a device that could not receive Huawei updates, use HarmonyOS features, or be serviced at Huawei stores.

Selling Dingqiao phones as Huawei lookalikes cost consumer trust, reputational risk, and legal liability, with thousands paying 3,999 yuan for non-Huawei devices.

Dingqiao's phone design was so similar to Huawei's that consumers could not tell the difference at the point of sale, and some retailers exploited the confusion

Huawei's sanctions-era strategy of shifting production to affiliated entities created a grey market where brand identity became deliberately ambiguous

No clear disclosure at the point of sale told consumers what they were actually buying

A product that looks like a trusted brand but is not that brand is a liability, not a strategy. When consumers discover the difference, the confusion becomes a betrayal.