With the U.S. now aiming to ban transactions with WeChat and its parent company Tencent, there may be a possibility that Apple is forced to remove the app from its App Store around the world. However, in doing so, noted analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reports that the move could result in an iPhone shipments drop that may reach 30 percent. Considering that Apple is fairly doing well as far as its iPhone segment is concerned, the aftermath of removing the app could be devastating.
Kuo Believes a Ban on WeChat Could Be Very Harmful Due to the Size of the Chinese Smartphone Market
Since WeChat is an extremely popular app with Chinese mobile users when it comes to both iOS and Android, Kuo maintains his belief in the latest research note that Apple banning it could have deleterious results as he mentions the following.
“Because WeChat has become a daily necessity in China, integrating functions such as messaging, payment, e-commerce, social networking, news reading, and productivity, if this is the case, we believe that Apple's hardware product shipments in the Chinese market will decline significantly. We estimate that the annual iPhone shipments will be revised down by 25–30%, and the annual shipments of other Apple hardware devices, including AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac, will be revised down by 15–25%.”
Fortunately, the analyst has also provided an optimistic outlook on the matter, saying that if WeChat is only removed from the U.S. App Store, an iPhone shipment drop of 3-6 percent could be witnessed while other Apple products could drop by only 3 percent. Compare that to a monumental figure of 30 percent and the difference is certainly astounding.
Though Apple does not provide iPhone shipments data according to the region, previous stats have shown that Greater China accounted for a little over 15 percent of Apple's total revenue during the June quarter, and that isn’t small by any stretch of the imagination.
Do you think Apple will be forced to remove WeChat from its App Store in the future because of the latest U.S. executive order? Tell us down in the comments.
News Source: MacRumors
