PALO ALTO, U.S. — At first glance, Apple appears to be facing a rocky future in China: Onetime rival Huawei released two 5G-powered handsets just days ahead of the latest iPhone launch, while Beijing is clamping down on the use of foreign phones by government workers.

But industry participants and analysts say diehard fans are likely to stick by the U.S. handset maker, and that the bigger challenges facing Apple in China are a lack of eye-catching new features in the iPhone 15 and a generally dim economic outlook.

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