Peng Liyuan, wife of Chinese President Xi Jinping, has become her country’s premier fashion icon, patriotic consumer and ambassador for China’s often maligned designers and manufacturers, who need every bit of international prestige they can get.

Bloggers and analysts follow her every skirt, shoe and handbag choice with breathless enthusiasm. But her stubborn choice of an Apple iPhone over plentiful but not particularly distinguished Chinese brands had, at least until last weekend, become a sore point with the tech savvy and social media trawling public.

But during a visit to Germany on Saturday, critics were hushed after a photo flashed around the world’s news agencies: Peng, seated next to Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn, photographing a soccer match with what appeared to be a Nubia Mini, the top of the line phone from ZTE, a Shezhen based tech company.