I think this explanation is more reliable: it is said that when ZTE was very popular (probably doing PHS), ZTE recruited people from Huawei, and the number of people in ZTE Shenzhen started at 26. When people meet, they will ask you if you received a call on the 26th today. Later, they called ZTE the 26th generation.
Later, it was said that 26 refers to the 26th subtitle Z, which is also more vivid.
The later explanation is more vulgar. 26 tones are the same as "second-rate", indicating that Z is a malicious competition and a second-rate company.
In addition, 28
In fact, Huawei didn't call it 28 at first, but called it F7, which is the homonym of "husband and wife". Why "husband and wife" Look at the official, HW = husband+wife. This explanation also has the meaning of denigrating Ren and Sun, alluding to the mom-and-pop shop.
Later, because Z's 26 was labeled as "second-rate", Z's employees were unhappy and called HW 28, implying that it was above 26. But I found that Huawei's landlines in Shenzhen all start with 28. Is it a coincidence?
28 Add:
I remember 2009 or 10. At that time, it was reported that the average salary of Huawei employees was 28w (there was a big gap between the actual salary and the company's expenditure). Later, everyone exclaimed so much, and Huawei employees laughed at their annual salary of 28w, so there was such an allusion. .