New iPhone sales are non-existent in the US. Coincidence, or is this tied to what’s happening in China too? This week, several Chinese electronic retailers have slashed the prices of iPhones. This was due to the report Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) put out last week on its revenue loss.

At this time, the tech company did something it hasn’t had to do since 2002. Just ahead of a big announcement sure to disappoint investors by the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, Apple decided to freeze its stock. 

In this letter to investors, Cook revealed that the company was lowering its projected value for the first time in 16 years, due to lack of iPhone sales. Recently, the company started making iPhones nearing the $1,000 range, and it seems consumers in China aren’t buying. That is where most of the lack of growth came from and the reason for the devaluation of the company.

iPhone Sales Slashed in China

It seems Chinese retailers have decided to take matters into their own hands and have dropped the prices of iPhones to help gain profits. This price drop started happening at the beginning of the week. Apple has yet to publically respond on the matter, but its stock has remained in the green the past five days.

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“It’s possible Apple wants to test the market’s feedback if it brings down the channel prices. Or, Apple might be under pressure to clean out its stock of iPhones,” Mo Jia, a Canalys analyst, told the Globe and Mail. 

Apple has been trailing local competitors in China such as Huawei Technologies. Huawei offers cheaper options to those in China, which happens to be the world’s largest smartphone market by shipment volume in the world. The company has recently begun pushing its products into North America, which could deem as an even bigger issue for Apple. 

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