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While the launch of Apple’s next smartphone is only a matter of time, its future in the Middle Kingdom seems somewhat marred by government decisions that could have more impact than expected.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth: Chinese government employees are no longer allowed to use foreign-brand phones. This ban concerns Google and its Pixels in particular, but also and especially Apple and its iPhones. While this news is not surprising, given Sino-American relations, the timing is anything but perfect for the Cupertino giant.
An increasingly difficult Chinese market
Will regular iPhone users in China have to switch to devices running Android? Don’t panic for the moment, but depending Bloomberg, the country’s main mobile telephone operator is preparing to ignore the Apple brand’s next terminals. Even if China Mobile is not officially obliged to do so, it may not add the iPhone 15 and its different versions to its catalog. A hard blow for Apple, when the Chinese company already had nearly 1 billion subscribers in 2020.
Neither China Mobile nor the American giant have confirmed the rumor. Even so, it should still be possible to legally obtain future versions of the iPhone through other means. However, the smartphone sector is changing in China, amid rising industrial nationalism and trade tensions with the United States. Local manufacturers are becoming increasingly fierce competitors for the Apple brand, in a context where anti-Apple sentiment “ spread on Chinese social media “.
It remains to be seen whether the American giant will be able to bounce back, as it did after disappointing sales figures in 2019 with the iPhone XR and XS. However, there could be a compromise found, as Apple provides millions of direct and indirect jobs in China, according to Bloomberg. This data could make a negotiation with the local government possible, at a time when more and more manufacturers are relocating their production sites to other countries, such as India.
Source : The Verge
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