I always take the timing of these negative articles into account - create a panic to drive down stock price prior to a big Apple announcement (March 25) that will drive it back up... traders make a nice short-term profit.
However... there is undoubtley a serious problem in China - Apple has confirmed it themselves! It’s a combination of factors: Apple’s high pricing vs Chinese competitors (The Chinese government subsidizes pricing, yes, not fair, but the reality), Chinese sentiment (The Chinese are taking pride in their own brands, the US trade war is creating a hostile view of the US, and at the extreme, a negative view of the Apple brand), the increase in quality and features of ‘low end’ Chinese smartphones (many specs are on par with Apple or even surpass Apple), Apple’s stubbornness with sticking to an ‘s’ strategy - tech buyers want to see new features and external design changes for every new model. Apple’s slower yearly release schedule needs to change. Timing is critical -in particular Apple needs to move up the 2019 release - September is a very, very long way off, and it may be too late. Once a customer is lost to the competition it will be two years, if ever that you can attempt to get them back. Chinese use of WeChat - this (government owned) platform essentially replaces the underlying OS. I’ve seen it firsthand, on a visit to China, citizens are in the WeChat app all day long, they don’t use anything else. This makes choosing Android vs. iOS irrelevant. Smartphones become a commodity (much like PCs running Windows) and Apple looses their ‘superior OS’ advantage.
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However... there is undoubtley a serious problem in China - Apple has confirmed it themselves! It’s a combination of factors: Apple’s high pricing vs Chinese competitors (The Chinese government subsidizes pricing, yes, not fair, but the reality), Chinese sentiment (The Chinese are taking pride in their own brands, the US trade war is creating a hostile view of the US, and at the extreme, a negative view of the Apple brand), the increase in quality and features of ‘low end’ Chinese smartphones (many specs are on par with Apple or even surpass Apple), Apple’s stubbornness with sticking to an ‘s’ strategy - tech buyers want to see new features and external design changes for every new model. Apple’s slower yearly release schedule needs to change. Timing is critical -in particular Apple needs to move up the 2019 release - September is a very, very long way off, and it may be too late. Once a customer is lost to the competition it will be two years, if ever that you can attempt to get them back. Chinese use of WeChat - this (government owned) platform essentially replaces the underlying OS. I’ve seen it firsthand, on a visit to China, citizens are in the WeChat app all day long, they don’t use anything else. This makes choosing Android vs. iOS irrelevant. Smartphones become a commodity (much like PCs running Windows) and Apple looses their ‘superior OS’ advantage.