Apple CEO Tim Cook goes on a charm offensive in China amid weak iPhone sales in the world’s largest smartphone market
On the same day, Cook also visited the studio of director Mo Lyu who uses various Apple products to develop, create storyboards, shoot and edit her short films, according to another Weibo post by the company’s chief executive.
Cook also arranged to check products from Apple suppliers such as Lens Technology and Shenzhen Everwin Precision Technology during the Shanghai leg of his latest trip to China.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook spent Wednesday morning walking along Shanghai’s famous waterfront area, The Bund, with Chinese actor Zheng Kai. Photo: Weibo
He was also expected to lead the opening of a new Apple Store in Shanghai’s Jing’an district, the centre of China’s financial hub, on Thursday.
The packed itinerary of Cook reflects his continued optimism about Apple’s long-term prospects in the world’s second-largest economy, despite increased competition from Huawei Technologies and other major domestic handset vendors in the nation’s vast smartphone market.
Cupertino, California-based Apple announced last week plans to expand its research centre in Shanghai to support all of its product lines and the opening of a new lab in southern tech hub Shenzhen later this year.
Apple chief executive Tim Cook on Wednesday also stopped by the Shanghai studio of film director Mo Lyu, third from left. Photo: Weibo
Apple’s Greater China region – covering the mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau – is the firm’s third-largest geographic market behind the Americas and Europe, based on its December quarter results.
“There’s no supply chain in the world that’s more critical to us than China,” Cook said in an interview with China Daily on Wednesday.
Cook added that Apple has been expanding its supply chain in China and increasing investment over the past 30 years.
The pressure for Apple, however, has ratcheted up in China, as its iPhone sales on the mainland fell 24 per cent year on year over the first six weeks of 2024, according to a report by Counterpoint Research. Total mainland smartphone sales declined by 7 per cent owing in the same period because of increased competition and muted consumer spending.
The company “faced stiff competition at the high end [of the market] from a resurgent Huawei, while getting squeezed in the middle on aggressive pricing by the likes of Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi”, the Counterpoint report said.
Apple’s authorised retailers on the mainland started offering steep discounts on the latest iPhone 15 series since early March in an effort to revive sales.
