Chinese Smartphones: China’s Image Boosting Tools in Central Asia

Despite Chinese smartphone vendors’ track record in successfully developing and selling communication technologies to the Global South, the potential of Chinese communication technologies to boost the China’s image remains underexplored in academic literature. Drawing on the responses from focus groups and individual interviews conducted with the wider public in Almaty, Bishkek, Dushanbe and Tashkent in 2022, this article will contribute to our understanding of China’s image in Central Asia and the role of Chinese smartphones in this regard. I find that competitive pricing, localised marketing, and corporate social responsibility have so far helped Chinese smartphone vendors to improve the Central Asian public’s attitudes towards Chinese technologies and China more broadly.