Apple's woes go beyond China economy: End of easy money among the culprits

Apple's woes go beyond China economy: End of easy money among the culprits Apple last week cut its quarterly revenue forecast for the first time in almost two decades, blaming weak sales in Asia's largest economy

Technology News : A slowing economy and relatively high prices have been highlighted as chief culprits behind the slump in demand for Apple Inc.’s iPhones in China. There’s a third factor that’s been overlooked: the end of easy money.

Apple last week cut its quarterly revenue forecast for the first time in almost two decades, blaming weak sales in Asia’s largest economy.

Cheaper devices from the likes of Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. helped to erode the iPhone maker’s market share. But slowing consumer loan growth has also hurt appetite for high-priced phones.

Beijing has been cracking down on consumer lenders favored by the country’s more free-spending millennial generation. The peer-to-peer lending industry is shrinking as defaults rise and regulations are tightened.

The impact on consumption shouldn’t be underestimated.

→Read Our Full Coverage on Apple← For example, P2P loans to finance car purchases totaled about 17 billion yuan ($2.5 billion), or 9.4 percent of broader internet lending, as of June last year, according to industry site wdzj.com.

The availability of credit has helped some consumers buy more expensive cars — and other high-priced items — than they would otherwise have chosen.

Nasdaq-listed LexinFintech Holdings Ltd. offers iPhones and other consumer products via installment loans through its online e-commerce platform. The company’s iPhone sales rose in the fourth quarter from the third, and for the full year compared with...read more

→News Source:BS/Business Standard←