[SmokingJoe]

Sold to the emerging Chinese middle class who can afford to buy them because Western companies are paying them more than they used to earn farming.

That scenario is no longer the case.
Most of the smartphones sold in China are manufactured by Chinese companies like Xaomi, Oppo, Viva etc etc.

[Boogieman]

“Most of the smartphones sold in China are manufactured by Chinese companies like Xaomi, Oppo, Viva etc etc.”

I said nothing about who MANFUCTURED the phones. My comment was about who was BUYING the phones, and where they are getting the money to buy them. If you think the Chinese communist party-owned companies are going to support the Chinese middle class to continue to buy up all the Chinese products once Western money is withdrawn, you are mistaken.