A huge Chinese survey with more than 1.2 million responses reveals that 95% of Chinese iPhone owners would switch from Apple to another smartphone market, instead of giving up WeChat. The survey follows an executive order from Donald Trump banning U.S. companies from transactions with WeChat owner Tencent.
iPhones without WeChat in China would be transformed into “expensive electronic trash”…
Bloomberg reports:
iPhone loyalists across China are now considering their attachment to the device after Donald Trump issued an executive order last week to dissuade U.S. companies from doing business with WeChat […]
A survey on the twitter-like Weibo service asking consumers to choose between WeChat and their iPhones has so far garnered more than 1.2 million responses, with roughly 95% of participants saying they would rather give up their devices. “The ban will force many Chinese users to switch from Apple to other markets because WeChat is really important to us,” said Sky Ding, who works in fintech in Hong Kong and is originally from Xi’an […]
The ban threatens to turn iPhones into expensive ‘electronic trash’s, said Hong Kong resident Kenny Ou, who sees WeChat as one of the most essential software on his handset.
WeChat has more than a billion users, and is the single most important app in China. Without it, iPhones would be useless to the overwhelming majority of Chinese residents.
WeChat is not just a messaging service: it is basically an entire operating system […] The average Chinese person picks up their phone and opens WeChat immediately. Similarly, everything they do happens within this single app.
The scope of Trump’s order is unclear at this time. Of crucial import is whether the order is valid only in the US, or for the business dealings of American companies worldwide. If the latter is applicable, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo estimated that it could cost the iPhone maker up to 30% of its global sales if Chinese iPhone owners simply could not find future models.
Apple itself has warned the White House of the massive risk to its business.
Apple is one of more than a dozen U.S. companies that warned the Trump administration this week about the implications of banning WeChat from its platforms. The warning was given during a conference call.
Disney, Ford, Intel, Morgan Stanley, UPS, and Walmart were also among those to inform the White House that the consequences for U.S. companies could be ‘serious’.
Photo: Qilai Shen / Bloomberg
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