Earlier today we told you about how the Chinese smartphone market is contracting. The main victim is Apple, which saw a 40 percent decline on year in the last quarter of 2018. We do know that the Cupertino company is going through a rough patch, with iPhone sales declining, due to several reasons. One of the things Apple is trying to do to counter this is to lower the prices of the phones in its portfolio.

U.S. and China representatives are meeting in Beijing this week to talk about trade topics. Apple CEO Tim Cook is optimistic about the meeting, though the company he leads has a lot to lose if talks hit roadblocks. Analysts are predicting that around 20 percent of Apple’s business comes from China and Taiwan.

March 1 has been set as a virtual deadline for the talks to generate a positive outcome. Should they fail, tariffs on Chinese imports could raise from 10 percent to 25 percent. The status quo left a mark on currency exchange rates. Cook admits that “because the local currency devalued over the course of the year, our prices did go up there, more so than did in regions that are U.S. dollar denominated”.

As a direct effect, Apple had to lower the prices of its iPhones in China. “We’ll see how that works out for us”, Cook said.

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