Rebirth: Let's Talk About 1984

According to reports, this story begins at an entirely unscientific moment: Zhou Ziye, a designer who rose from creating counterfeit mobile phones, suddenly time-traveled back to the year 1984.

He sold them in huge quantities.

Hardware is what he excels at: Samsung, Sony, Philips; Motorola, Texas Instruments, Intel.

If you won’t give me a chip, fine.

Just wait.

With your own patent technology, I’ll besiege you.

All I really wanted was to make a phone—cordless, then 2G feature phones—without intending to devour your big slice of pie.

Establishing the rules? That’s beyond my capability.

All I want is a seat at the table.

But if you refuse to grant me one, those scum aren’t harmless—they’re not satiating themselves on air.