Report Suggests Apple’s Future in China Could be Impacted by iPhone Ban

Morgan Stanley reported on Friday that US tech giant Apple’s revenue could fall by up to four percent this year after China ordered central government officials not to use Apple iPhones and other foreign-branded devices at work or bring them into the office.

Analyst Erik W Woodring said Apple’s stock losses over the past two days were “extraordinary” because he doesn’t think the restrictions will lead to anything wider, Reuters reported.

According to Reuters, under the government of Xi Jinping, China has grown more concerned about information security and introduced new laws and compliance requirements for companies.

Earlier this year, China urged large state-owned companies to play a key role in its drive to achieve self-sufficiency in technology, raising the stakes in competition amid tensions between the United States and the United States.

China’s ban comes before Apple’s mega event next week, where the company will launch a new iPhone series.

Apple recently released security updates that fixed two serious security issues. Citizen Lab recently said in a blog post that they have discovered a serious security issue last week – a zero-click vulnerability.

That means hackers can attack without the person receiving the malware having to click on anything, such as an attachment. They also said the vulnerability was used as part of an exploit chain designed to deliver the NSO Group’s malware known as Pegasus.

“The exploit chain was able to compromise iPhones running the latest version of iOS (16.6) without victim interaction,” Citizen Lab wrote in a blog post. When they discovered the vulnerability, researchers reported it to Apple, which released a patch on Thursday.

The Cupertino-based technology giant also patched another vulnerability and attributed the finding to the company itself. A TechCrunch report suggested that the company may have discovered a second vulnerability while investigating the first.