Apple chief Tim Cook is spending a few days in China, one of the technology company’s most important markets and an important production hub for its products.
His visit comes as iPhone sales in the country fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to data from Counterpoint research. The drop was attributed to strong competition from local tech companies such as Huawei, although “unusually high” sales in January 2023 were also a factor.
Cook reached out to the Asian giant on Wednesday, sharing the news not on X (formerly Twitter) but to his 1.68 million followers on Weibothe Chinese social media behemoth.
His schedule seems to be full. On Thursday, for example, Cook will open a new Apple Store (below) in the Jing’an district of the sprawling city of Shanghai.
In one of the many upbeat posts he’s shared since his arrival, the Apple CEO said he had strolled the famous Bund riverside area with Chinese actor and TV personality Zheng Kai and enjoyed “a classic Shanghai breakfast,” adding that “I am always so glad to be back in this remarkable city.
Cook also visited the studio of director Mo Lyu, who, according to another post by Cook, uses Apple products “at every stage of the creative process, from storyboarding on an iPad to shooting on an iPhone 15 Pro Max, to editing with MacBook Professional.”
Later, the Apple boss posted a photo (top) of himself among a crowd of shoppers inside another Shanghai Apple Store — one of seven, soon to be eight, in the city.
In an interview with China Daily On Wednesday, Cook pointed to the importance of Apple’s “long-term, win-win relationship” with Chinese suppliers, saying: “It’s the partnership between Apple and the Chinese companies that really makes things happen.”
But of increasing importance to Apple’s manufacturing efforts is its recent shift to India, with the company aiming to use suppliers there to build a quarter of the world’s iPhones annually within the next three years, according to Wall Street Journal report in December citing people familiar with the matter. Apple decided to diversify its manufacturing operations following challenges that arose during the pandemic and also due to ongoing political tensions between the US and China that could affect supply chains.
But Cook’s latest charm offensive underscores China’s continued importance to Apple’s bottom line and its desire to keep the supply chains and factories it has spent years developing there.
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