Meet the secretive billionaire who toppled Apple in China

Duan Yongping is convinced Tim Cook didn’t have a clue who he was when they first met a couple years ago. 

The Apple boss probably does now. Mr Duan is the reclusive billionaire who founded Oppo and Vivo, the twin smartphone brands that dealt the world’s largest company a stinging defeat in China last year. Once derided as cheap iPhone knockoffs, they leapfrogged the rankings and shoved Apple out of the top three in 2016 — when iPhone shipments fell in China for the first time.

They managed to do it because the American smartphone giant didn’t adapt to local competition, the entrepreneur told Bloomberg in what he said was his first interview in 10 years. Oppo and Vivo employed tactics Apple was reluctant to match, such as cheaper devices with high-end features, for fear of jeopardising its winning formula elsewhere, Mr Duan said. “Apple couldn’t beat us in China because even they have flaws,” the 56-year-old electronics mogul said. “They’re maybe too stubborn sometimes. They made a lot of great things, like their operating system, but we surpass them in other areas.” That’s not to say Duan doesn’t appreciate the iPhone maker’s global clout. In fact, the billionaire’s obsession with his US rival is legion: He’s long been a big-time investor in Apple and an unabashed fan of its chief executive officer.