Apple loses $190 billion in market value in two days

She wrote that the Chinese government has banned central government employees from using Apple iPhones at work The Wall Street Journal Wednesday, according to sources. Meanwhile, Apple stock fell more than 7%, representing $190 billion in lost market value.

Apple shares sold off en masse for the second day in a row on Thursday on concerns in China. Government employees may no longer be allowed to use iPhones, while China is Apple’s main overseas market and also where it produces its smartphones. If the ban goes into effect, it will also affect other technology companies around the world, as it relates to banning all foreign smartphones for government employees.

“The timing of the potential ban is interesting,” Bank of America analyst Amsi Mohan said Bloomberg. Chinese technology company Huawei has just launched a great new smartphone model: the Huawei Mate 60 Pro. It comes with a chipset made in China by chip manufacturer SMIC, but it’s also a very advanced semiconductor by Chinese standards. Chinese companies have long been hit by US trade sanctions, which have prevented them from importing modern American semiconductors. But the Kirin 9000s chipset proved that China is technologically advanced than expected.

“Exaggerated”

China has been trying for years to become less dependent on Western technology in response to US trade tariffs. In recent weeks and months, the relationship between China and the United States has become more complex. It was recently announced that the US is imposing stricter rules on all US companies trading chips in China. The Biden administration is also examining funds that invest in Chinese companies. On the other hand, the United States lifted trade restrictions on 27 Chinese companies. The move was seen as communication from Washington ahead of the scheduled visit of US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to Beijing later this month.

Some analysts say the market reaction to the Chinese ban is exaggerated because it only affects an estimated 500,000 iPhones out of the 45 million devices Apple is expected to sell in China next year. The company from the American city of Cupertino has traditionally achieved good results in the Chinese market. In 2022, it became China’s third-largest smartphone manufacturer with a total of 51.3 million iPhones sold, according to the research firm’s figures. Canales. Samsung, the global market leader in smartphone sales, doesn’t make it into the top five manufacturers in China selling the most devices.

Protected ecosystem

In addition to concerns surrounding China, there was a second aspect that could deter Apple shareholders. The European Union on Wednesday examined the operation of the iMessage messaging app on Apple devices in the context of the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This allows Apple users to send text messages that work with private chat functions including emojis. However, these only work in messages that Apple users send to each other.

Google, the developer of the Android operating system for smartphones, is calling for the adoption of an open messaging standard called Rich Communications Services (RCS). This makes classic SMS smarter and gives it additional functionality like in apps like WhatsApp or iMessage. Users will then be able to send smart text messages to each other using all phones – regardless of brand. Apple, on the other hand, prefers to stick with its own smart messaging system in iMessage. For Apple users, iMessage’s exclusive launch could be an argument for choosing an iPhone over an Android device when purchasing a new smartphone. In this way, the Cupertino company controls the ecosystem of its products.

The EU decided that additional research was needed to determine whether Apple should be required to support RCS with iMessage. So Apple won’t have to support RCS for now. If Apple decides that RCS becomes mandatory on iPhones, Apple will have until August 2024 to build the functionality into iMessage. Last year, Apple was banned from launching smartphones with its own charging port. So the iPhone 15, which will be released this month, will have USB-C connectivity for the first time.

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