Bank of America analysts found the timing of these events to be noteworthy. The rumored restriction on iPhones comes closely after Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, launched its new premium smartphone. Wedbush Securities thinks the ban would affect less than 5,00,000 iPhones of the roughly 45 million he expects to be sold in the country over the next 12 months. However, most analysts are also calling the reaction overblown, considering China is a much larger market beyond government agencies. Bloomberg News later reported that this prohibition could extend to employees of state-owned enterprises and government-affiliated institutions.īernstein analyst believes an iPhone ban on all Chinese government employees could cut Apple's phone sales in China by as much as 5%. The Wall Street Journal disclosed on Wednesday that Beijing had issued a directive instructing officials within central government agencies not to bring iPhones into their workplaces or use them for professional purposes. Notably, China is Apple’s third-largest market, accounting for 18% of the company’s total revenues last year.

AAPL shed nearly $200 billion in market value in just two days amid the reports of China planning to expand a ban on the use of iPhones to government-backed agencies and state companies.

Lies of P download the new for apple