iPhone 15 May Face Hurdle In China As Government Officials Receive Foreign Device Ban, Says Report

The Chinese government has banned its officials from using Apple Inc.'s AAPL iPhones and other foreign-branded devices at work, dealing a blow to the company just days ahead of its ‘Wonderlust' iPhone 15 launch event.

What Happened: Chinese government officials have been banned from using iPhones and other foreign-made devices at work, reported The Wall Street Journal.

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While China's iPhone ban applies only to government officials at work, the report says that the scope has been significantly expanded now.

It could also be a tit-for-tat response from China after the US administration imposed a similar ban on Huawei and, more recently, TikTok.

This is also the latest move in China's efforts to wean itself off of foreign technology – both hardware as well as software. The most significant move before this was the ban on foreign PC hardware and software in 2022, impacting Apple and Microsoft.

Apart from this, the re-emergence of tech giant Huawei, which launched a new smartphone Mate 60 Pro. It is said to be powered by a 7-nanometer chipset, which seemed infeasible given the US' aggressive sanctions.

Experts have called it a "major blow" to Huawei's former suppliers – most of which are American companies like Qualcomm and Google.

Why It Matters: The ban will deal a body blow to Apple, which dominates the premium market in China.

At the end of the June 2023 quarter, Apple was the third-largest smartphone maker in China, with a market share of 16%. According to analytics firm Counterpoint Research, it also posted the biggest year-on-year gains at a time when the broader smartphone shipments in China fell 4%.

"Apple still has no competitors in the high-end market which has proven to be more resilient during market headwinds," said Counterpoint Research.

As a market, too, China is important for Apple, accounting for 19% of its overall revenue.

Photo by Marian Weyo on Shutterstock

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