On Apple's $200 billion dump and US shooting itself in the foot

[DrBeer]

....
The important thing is that they do not give specific figures about the number of iPhones sold. If Apple only provides 1,000 or 2,000 iPhones to the Chinese market in the first sale, selling them all is not enough to prove that people are still interested in Apple products.
In my country, the largest phone store chain announced that it had received 10k orders in the first sale. But meanwhile, some smaller store chains announced that they sold 18,000 iPhones in the first round of sales. Later, everyone realized that the news was a ridiculous exaggeration and a lie. Moreover, many retailers always affirm that it is difficult to buy a new iPhone in the first days of sale due to lack of goods and too many customers ordering. But I tried visiting some major stores in my area and discovered there was no shortage of iPhones for sale as many newspapers or dealers were spreading. In addition, the economic situation this year is difficult, the purchasing power of new iPhones in my country is not high, my friends buy Apple's latest iPhone models every year, they also have no intention of buying new iPhones this year. You need to determine the accuracy of articles before believing them to be true.
This is the news I just read today, the China nightmare is getting worse for Apple, and US technology. China is increasingly serious about gradually eliminating dependence on American and Western technology. I believe that things will get much worse in the future when this American technology company's revenue depends too much on the Chinese market.
https://www.businessinsider.com/china-could-ban-foreign-apps-apple-app-store-report-2023-9#:~:text=Apple's%20list%20of%20challenges%20in,revenue%20for%20Apple%20last%20year.

I don't have specific numbers, but I have "intermediate" : According to insiders, 253% more iPhone 15s were sold in China in the first two hours after launch than iPhone 14s were sold in the same time in 2022. Further you can do the math.

Tu the question is different really. Some people just took the news in the topic title as "that's it, Apple has collapsed, no one in China will buy an iPhone, Apple shot itself in the foot". Nothing like that Yes, there is a confrontation at the state level, maybe the Chinese leadership thinks that iPhones can "spy" on civil servants, that's why they banned the use of "ON WORK" ! But not to own or use while on vacation. Yes, company stocks are affected by many news items, and this kind of news among others. But... Chinese consumers remained loyal to the brand, and massively buy their phones. And will continue to do so. Because Apple has created an illusion - "if you own an iPhone, you are above others, you are successful and rich"

PS Yes, let me clarify - not a fan of the iPhone, I think it's really overrated. Yes I had iPhones, no - didn't like them

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[pooya87]

But that's not all China manufactures, in other fields and products you can find top quality competitive products too. Off the top of my head their car industry which is at this point manufacturing competitive vehicles which some speculate is going to put a lot of big names out of business in the near future.

I briefly talked about the Chinese car industry last year here and now the statistics say that China overtook Japan as the number one car exporter. This is with a whopping 62% increase in exports in 2023.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/china-likely-dethroned-japan-worlds-top-auto-exporter-2023-china-group-2024-01-09/

I'll try to write some thoughts on the dangers of China's expansion. I'm investigating and researching some stuff for now.

[WillyAp]

I'll try to write some thoughts on the dangers of China's expansion. I'm investigating and researching some stuff for now.

Hopefully a little more balanced.

Take dedollarisation for example. Something that people denied is happening 1-2 years ago and we only keep hearing about in the mainstream media recently has been happening for at least 15 years. It's easily seen on statistics too. 15-20 years ago US dollar was used in 75-85% of the entire international trades. Today that is barely reaching 50% and is dropping fast.

Let's put some details into perspective.


More balanced info is when you compare both articles:https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2023/08/31/us-dollar-defends-role-as-global-currency-infographic/?sh=395ec9585999

with
https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-200-billion-drop-sign-post-us-tech-future-near-2023-9

China benefited greatly with the technological transfer, or the sale of the century, many managers just sold out their country's tech.
Governments cannot be trusted.  

[Albarq]

Yes, the United States is still the world's number 1 power in many fields from economics to military, but look at how other countries are developing. It can be said that other countries are developing strongly while the US seems to be slowing down to let other countries catch up.

What is happening is similar to the Nokia empire, when Apple and Samsung were rising, they thought they were still kings until they were dethroned and withered away. Nothing is forever, the US has dominated the world for more than 100 years and it is time for them to cede it to others. Although America will not be dethroned any time soon, other countries are already taking action.

From this fact, many can certainly conclude that the US has always been ahead in terms of technology in the past, but with today's advances, China is starting to show rapid progress and this can be proven by their good technological innovation, of course they have not moved on from history, why should the US be worried? regarding this problem with super cheap global competition making companies unable to compete with the emphasis on sanctions "to China and vice versa to the US making the many losses suffered by China's nightmare even worse for Apple and the US technology market and the bad situation that will happen in the future.

[pooya87]

The interesting thing I learned about this "mess" is that apparently Chinese government never wanted to go down this path. They had drank the Kool-aid so to speak and were happy in the unipolar world order having to rely on importing technologies. The idiots in Washington on the other hand, specifically starting from Trump admin., thought bans work and like always they were wrong.
Now China is running its own massive chip industries that is growing much faster than its competitors and they are also entering the "high tech chips" territories and setting new records.

It's worth repeating what I said 6-7 months ago:

The ban on semiconductor exports to China will damage China in short term and they will obviously suffer (as they've already been damaged). On the other hand, in the long term the China that could freely import semiconductors is different from China that can no longer import them. This new China was forced to manufacture them domestically and so far they have had great success in acquiring the technology and producing high end semiconductors.

That means in long term they have the potential of easily overtaking the global market for semiconductors and their products.

You have to understand that what we call "high tech" is not some alien technology that was acquired by a group of people in a one time only visit from the outer space aliens
If you dedicate funds and brainpower in any sector you can reach the same technology anywhere. It's not like China is a poor country with no money, we all know China has more than enough money to invest in these sectors and reach the same tech level.