Why are Vietnamese retailers pulling Chinese smartphone brands from store shelves?

The move came after users discovered that the pre-installed global weather forecasting app AccuWeather on some smartphone models displayed inaccurate information about Vietnam's sovereignty over the Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly) archipelagos, Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Saigon) newspaper reported.

Several smartphone brands, including Vivo, Tecno, Nubia, Meizu, Huawei, Oppo, Honor and Xiaomi, had models affected by the issue.

AccuWeather is a third-party service provider supplying weather information to smartphone manufacturers.

The incorrect information appeared following over-the-air software updates.

AccuWeather faces backlash from Vietnamese users

Social media users and technology communities in Vietnam reported that location searches on the international weather app incorrectly placed the two archipelagos under Chinese sovereignty.

The display triggered widespread public outrage, with users criticizing the app for providing information that misrepresents Vietnam's territorial sovereignty.

As AccuWeather is a widely used weather service worldwide and is integrated into various smartphone models, the problem has also affected devices that rely on its data.

A representative of smartphone brand Honor confirmed to Tuoi Tre (Youth) online newspaper that a thorough investigation had traced the problem to a third-party online service rather than content developed directly by Honor.

Upon receiving reports of the issue, the company immediately worked with its partner to disable the faulty service and update the system.

Honor said it had since updated the app, and location searches no longer displayed the inaccurate information.

The company's technical team is also completing an over-the-air software update, which is expected to be rolled out to all affected devices within the week to fully resolve the issue.

Similarly, Xiaomi Vietnam said it had acknowledged the incident involving content displayed by a third-party partner's app.

The company immediately coordinated with its technical teams to review the issue and confirmed that the problem on affected Xiaomi models had been successfully resolved.

Xiaomi reaffirmed its commitment to fully respecting and complying with Vietnamese laws and thanked customers for promptly reporting the issue.

Oppo Vietnam also affirmed its commitment to complying with local laws. Following an internal review, the company said the weather app on Oppo smartphone models had not been found to display similar inaccuracies.

Retailers temporarily removing display models

In addition to smartphone manufacturers, several domestic mobile phone retailers have taken precautionary measures to protect consumers' interests and respect Vietnam's national sovereignty.

A representative of a major retail chain said it had proactively reviewed all demo devices displayed at its stores as soon as the issue came to light and contacted manufacturers to clarify the situation.

To ensure compliance and prevent the display of inaccurate information, the chain temporarily suspended the operation of display devices suspected of being affected while the issue was investigated.

Retailers stressed that removing the display models was a precautionary measure to allow technical checks.

The products will only be returned to store shelves after manufacturers confirm that software updates have been completed and the data issue has been fully resolved.