In a press conference at the White House this afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on Apple's recent revenue woes, suggesting the company will "be fine" despite its downgraded Q1 2019 guidance.
When asked about Apple's announcement and its potential impact on the U.S. economy, Trump erroneously said that Apple has "gone up hundreds of percent" since he's been president. "Apple was at a number that was incredible and they're going to be fine. Apple is a great company," Trump said.
Apple has not, of course, seen a "hundreds of percent" increase in its stock price, with the number instead at around 20 percent since Trump's January 2017 inauguration.
Trump went on to say that he's unconcerned about Apple because its devices are made "mostly in China," seemingly blaming that fact for Apple's financial issues. He also once again reiterated that should Apple move its manufacturing to the United States, and suggested he's friends with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
"Don't forget this Apple makes their product in China. I told Tim Cook, who is a friend of mine, who I like a lot: 'Make your product in the United States, build those big, beautiful plants that go on for miles it seems, build those plants in the United States.'"
Apple outlined many reasons for the change in its guidance, which is now at $84 billion and down from the $89 to $93 billion November estimate, but manufacturing problems in China were not among those reasons.
Instead, Apple said that the issue was caused by Chinese consumers not purchasing iPhones, which is unrelated to where iOS devices are assembled.
Apple also pointed towards iPhone launch timing, a strong U.S. dollar, supply constraints, trade tensions, and weak iPhone upgrade numbers due to fewer carrier subsidies and the low-priced battery replacements that were available throughout 2018.
According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China caused by Trump's trade war have had an impact on Apple's bottom line. Back in November, Trump suggested that a 10 percent tariff could be implemented on iPhones and laptops imported from China, but thus far, additional tariffs have not been imposed.
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