Kuo: Global iPhone Shipments Might Drop By 30% Due To WeChat Ban

If US President Donald Trump's WeChat ban goes effective, it will stop all US businesses to do business with the Chinese social network platform and its parent company Tencent. And it is certain that the app will be removed from the App Store. According to Ming-Chi Kuo analysis, this WeChat ban will affect iPhone global shipments, which could potentially drop by 30%. 

WeChat is arguably the most popular social networking app in the Chinese market. More or less Apple will lose a lot of users in the Chinese market or even Chinese customers or anyone who uses the app as the primary messaging tool. Kuo points out that Apple's global iPhone shipments might drop by 25% to 30% and that it will also affect other products such as iPads, Apple Watch, AirPods, and Mac ... which could see a decrease by 15 -25%.

“Since WeChat is very critical to Chinese users, integrating communications, payments, e-Commerce, social software, news reading, and productivity functions, we believe that the move will tank ‌iPhone‌ shipments in the Chinese market. We estimate that global ‌iPhone‌ shipments will decline by 25–30%. Global shipments of other Apple hardware products, including AirPods, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac, will decline by 15–25%.”

However, the positive thing is that the ban may only applied for the App Store in the US market, so the number will not be as high as Kuo analyzed. China has always been one of the biggest markets for Apple to make money so this will certainly be bad news for the US-based giant. We're still waiting for the US to officially ban WeChat and TikTok - 45 days after Trump's signing to see whether these apps will survive on the App Store or other app markets.

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