This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s retail sales growth may have been weak in the first half of the year, but spending on expensive handbags, clothing, and accessories boomed, earnings reports show. China’s trade data improved in August but economic worries still linger, and Apple stock drops on reports of a Chinese government iPhone ban.

Plus, Jonathan Breen provides a glimpse into the tiny world of organoids on microscopic chips — and its big potential future.