Apple (AAPL) -) shares moved lower Wednesday following a report that said officials in China have banned government employees from using iPhones, or any other foreign-made handsets, when they're doing state business.
The move, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes amid Beijing's longer-term effort to reduce its reliance on foreign technologies and maintain a tighter grip on security and data protection.
Earlier this year, officials asked executives at China's state-owned enterprises to make their firms "pillars" in this effort by increasing investments in research and innovation in order to "maintain national industrial security."
At the same time, China's move could be the latest salvo in the Washington-Beijing tech-trade war.
Apple, which will launch its next-generation iPhones next week at its annual product event in Cupertino, Calif., has remained heavily reliant on China for its overall revenue.
Apple said China sales rose 1.1% from last year over the three months ended in June to around $15.76 billion, or around a fifth of its overall total.
"On a geographic basis, we’ve had great performance for iPhone in emerging markets. We set June quarter records in many of the emerging markets," Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri told investors on a conference call last month.
"We grew in total double digits. And the performance was strong across the board in emerging markets from China, where our performance improved from minus 3% to plus 8% in the June quarter and we grew double digits in constant currency."
At last check Apple shares were marked 3.57% lower in early afternoon trading Wednesday, pushed lower also by a surge in U.S. Treasury bond yields, to change hands at $182.93 each.
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