There is one big reason why China won't ban the Apple iPhone
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The U.S.-China trade war is one of tit for tat. Revenge and retaliation are at the heart of this ever-escalating battle. For example, last week the U.S. raised the tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports from 10% to 25%. China quickly added tariffs on $60 billion of U.S. exports. Now that the U.S. has put Huawei on the brink, what is to stop the Chinese government from instituting a ban on Apple in the country?
Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei still praises the iPhone
During Apple's fiscal second quarter (covering January through March), the company saw its revenues from China drop 21.5% from $13.02 billion the year before to $10.22 billion. The iPhone had a 7% market share in China during the calendar first quarter of this year, down from the 9.1% slice it earned for all of 2018. And even if China doesn't ban the iPhone, Apple's iPhone sales in China can suffer greatly due to the latest wave of nationalism that is gripping Chinese consumers; this is playing a role in deciding which new phone Chinese consumers can buy. Many analysts see Apple's market share continuing to decline in China. Zaker Li, who works for analytical firm IHS Markit, says that "Putting aside political issues, Apple’s product offering and pricing strategies will be core reasons behind its (market share) drop." Kiranjeet Kaur, senior research manager at IDC Asia Pacific notes that "Chinese consumers’ love for Huawei can only increase because of the ban. Unless of course hardware supply chain constraints affect the roll-out of its phones locally."
Still, in these uncertain politically-charged times, it is completely unclear what the future holds even on a day-to-day basis. There is still a possibility that Huawei is used as a bargaining chip by the Trump administration to win favorable terms in any future trade talks with China. Under that scenario, Huawei could be removed from the Entity List if a trade agreement is reached. But that still won't stop the U.S. from considering Huawei a national security threat because it could be forced to use its products to spy on American consumers and corporations. It is unclear what Huawei could do to clear its name in the states. And as long as the U.S. government continues to inflict harm on Huawei, Apple CEO Tim Cook has to worry about whether China will retaliate against his company as unlikely as it seems.
Things that are NOT allowed: