If Apple investors are not happy – and a one-tenth fall in the share price suggests deep unhappiness – then in theory those who have bought into its Asian supply chain are unlikely to be remotely chipper.

If only it were that simple. Companies that rely on Apple for a tenth or more of sales, according to Bloomberg, include Taiwan’s Hon Hai, Pegatron and Longwell, which assemble and supply various components, Japan’s Ateam, a digital games developer, and SK Hynix, the Korean chipmaker. Their share price moves on Thursday following Apple’s update ranged from a 3 per cent loss for Hon Hai and a nearly equal gain for Ateam. Try trading that sort of logic. Since Apple began its ascent into the stratosphere in 2009, its fivefold-plus gains put the 50 per cent gains of Taiwan’s tech index in the shade. But since Apple shares began a one-quarter slide in September last year, Taiwanese tech companies gained 5 per cent. Taipei to Cupertino: Apple who? Perhaps the thinking runs that any Apple slowdown means better orders from Samsung. But anyone betting on that would struggle: part of Samsung’s strength is its own internal supply chain.

Apple’s best and worst days in the past year were also not tracked closely by any of its most reliant suppliers. That said, its effect in the region remains palpable. Speculation that Hon Hai had shifted part of its Apple work to Hong Kong-listed Foxconn International Holdings, a sister company, had lifted Foxconn by as much as half since early November. That was on hopes the orders would help it return to profitability, only to be dashed by a profits warning on Wednesday – and no confirmation of the Apple work, either. Barclays analysts however found positives for Asia in Apple’s numbers, positing that its slimmer margins were due to paying more to its suppliers. Perhaps. But don’t try to trade on it.