China’s ban on Apple Phones (AAPL) continues to spread as more government agencies and adjacent firms are instructing staff to not bring these devices to the workplace, according to Bloomberg.
Yahoo Finance’s Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton weigh in on what this could mean for Apple as the iPhone maker diversifies its supply chain to other countries and not just China.
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Video Transcript
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JULIE HYMAN: China’s ban on Apple iPhones is reportedly growing. More agencies and government-backed firms are instructing workers to stop bringing phones to work, iPhones to work. That’s according to a report from Bloomberg. Basically, we had already gotten the reporting that there were a handful of agencies in certain regions, but it was much more limited, and now this appears to be a growing situation.
JOSH LIPTON: Yeah, but what Bloomberg is saying, this is a pretty, in their words, major step up from September. That’s when we heard about a small number of agencies telling their staff, listen, leave the foreign devices at home. And now, they’re arguing, again, this is according to Bloomberg, that there’s been kind of a broadening of that effort, telling the staff don’t bring these foreign devices, you know. They’d rather see them kind of rely on the home team there. There are important domestic players like Huawei. If you’re an Apple investor, you pay attention to these headlines because you know how important China is. It’s such a key link in Apple supply chain. It’s such an important end market for Tim Cook’s company. Stock is down about half a percent right now in the after hours. Of course, you know, it’s up about 11% since they reported in early November and it’s up more than 50% this year.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, and you have to wonder if there’s sort of diminishing impact here, even if there is this broadening of a ban. Is it priced into the stock already? Did people already expect or think that in the worst case scenario this is where it would go? So I think we’ll see, it’s a Friday afternoon, during the holidays. So one could argue there’s probably a limited effect on the stock. We’ll see on Monday if there’s a carry-over.
Alex Mitchell is your go-to expert for all things mobile. With a passion for the latest smartphones, apps, and mobile innovations, Alex provides in-depth reviews, insightful analyses, and breaking news about the ever-evolving world of mobile technology. Stay connected with Alex to navigate the fast-paced realm of mobile devices.
