In a note seen by AppleInsider, production estimates published by Cowen predict a modest increase in iPhone assemblies and shipments to 40 million units in the quarter ending in June. Cowen had originally estimated 39 million iPhones to be built this quarter. Cowen postulates that Apple is responding to increased demand for the iPhone in some markets following the Trump administration's recent decision to ban sales of technology and components from the U.S. to companies like Huawei.

According to a report in the South China Morning Post, "Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that assembles handsets for many phone brands including Apple and Xiaomi, has stopped several production lines for Huawei phones in recent days as the Shenzhen company reduced orders for new phones." The newspaper cited "people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the information is private."

In the ongoing trade battle between China and the United States, Huawei was blacklisted by the US government, forcing US companies to stop doing business with the company. Although the US government gave Huawei and its partners some breathing room, companies like Google, Intel, and Qualcomm have already stopped working with Huawei.

The effects of the United States’ Huawei ban continue to grow, with the Chinese hardware company now barred from being a member of the SD Association (the trade group that agrees upon standardized specs for SD and microSD cards). In other words, Huawei is no longer allowed to put official SD or microSD card support in its future phones or laptops, via 9to5Google.

The hits just keep on coming for Huawei. A litany of U.S. companies — including Google, Intel, Qualcomm, and Broadcom — have cut ties with the Chinese manufacturer following a trade ban, and ARM is now joining the list. According to the BBC, the UK chip vendor has sent out a memo to its staff to suspend "all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements" with Huawei.

UK-based chip designer ARM has told staff it must suspend business with Huawei, according to internal documents obtained by the BBC. ARM instructed employees to halt "all active contracts, support entitlements, and any pending engagements” with Huawei and its subsidiaries to comply with a recent US trade clampdown. ARM's designs form the basis of most mobile device processors worldwide.

Both Apple and Huawei are entangled in the US and China trade war as tensions have grown over the last few weeks. A ‘Boycott Apple’ movement has gained steam in China, and many in the country are singing the praises of local tech giant Huawei while Trump has banned the company’s products. The latest example is a Chinese diplomat who has attacked Apple on Twitter saying Huawei has “cut Apple into pieces” but hilariously, he did it from an iPhone.

Mobile phone retailers in some Asian countries are refusing to accept Huawei devices for trade-ins, as more consumers look to offload their device on worries Google suspending business with the Chinese firm will disrupt services. Google has said it will comply with an order by U.S. President Donald Trump to stop supplying Huawei, meaning current owners of Huawei phones face being cut off from updates of the Android operating system from late August. New phones will lose access to popular apps such as YouTube and Chrome.

Security officials from 30 countries have hammered out a common approach to wireless network safety, responding to concerns over equipment made by Chinese company Huawei Technologies. The non-binding proposal warns governments against relying on suppliers of fifth-generation networks that could be susceptible to state influence or based in countries that haven't signed international agreements on cyber security and data protection.

The Huawei security leak that led to the sacking of Gavin Williamson as defence secretary did not breach the Official Secrets Act, police say. Scotland Yard has said it was satisfied that the disclosure from a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), which prompted a Whitehall mole hunt, was not a crime.

Huawei Technologies overtook Apple to become the world's second-biggest smartphone maker in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market. The Chinese tech giant, shrugging off a barrage of accusations that it aids espionage for China (which it's repeatedly denied), grew shipments 50 per cent from a year earlier, research firm IDC estimates.