China has reportedly banned iPhones for government officials

China has reportedly restricted its government officials from using foreign-branded devices including the Apple iPhone for work.

Analyst reacts to China news on CNBC

Anonymous sources told the Wall Street Journal today that superiors at the central government agencies have been informing staff to not even bring their iPhones to work anymore.  

The report did say “foreign-branded devices” but did not particularly name any, other than the iPhone. On CNBC’s “The Exchange”, Bernstein analyst Toni Sacconaghi said today:

Neither Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) nor China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has so far commented on the news. Shares of the multinational tech behemoth are down more than 4.0% following the WSJ report on Wednesday.

EU brought bad news to Apple today as well

A ban on iPhones is just another reflection of the ongoing Sino-U.S. tensions. In June, some of China’s government agencies disallowed Tesla vehicles from being parked in government compounds as well.  

Also on Wednesday, the European Union also named Apple one of the “gatekeepers” under its Digital Markets Act. According to Bernstein’s Sacconaghi:

His “market perform” rating on the Nasdaq-listed firm that is expected to unveil an all-new iPhone 15 on September 12^th is coupled with a price objective of $195 – up less than 3.0% versus its previous close.