Skip to main content

Apple boss Tim Cook launches charm offensive in vital market

Tim Cook inside an Apple Store in Shanghai.
Apple/Tim Cook

Apple chief Tim Cook is spending a few days in China, one of the tech company’s most important markets and a major product manufacturing hub.

His visit comes as iPhone sales in the country dropped 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of 2024, according to data from Counterpoint Research. The slump was attributed to strong competition from local tech firms such as Huawei, although “abnormally high” sales in January 2023 were also a factor.

Recommended Videos

Cook arrived in the Asian giant on Wednesday, sharing the news not on X (formerly Twitter) but to his 1.68 million followers on Weibo, the Chinese social media behemoth.

His schedule looks to be a busy one. On Thursday, for example, Cook will open a new Apple Store (below) in the Jing’an district of the massive city of Shanghai.

Apple's eighth Shanghai store, opened in March 2024.
Apple

In one of many upbeat posts shared since his arrival, the Apple CEO said he’d taken a stroll along the famous Bund riverside area with Chinese actor and TV personality Zheng Kai, and enjoyed “a classic Shanghai breakfast,” adding that he’s “always so happy to be back in this remarkable city.”

Cook also paid a visit to the studio of director Mo Lyu, who, according to another of Cook’s posts, uses Apple products “in every stage of the creative process, from storyboarding with iPad to shooting on iPhone 15 Pro Max, to editing with MacBook Pro.”

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 the China Daily on Wednesday, Cook pointed to the importance of Apple’s “longtime, win-win relationship” with Chinese suppliers, saying, “It’s the partnership between Apple and Chinese companies that really makes things happen.”

But of growing significance regarding Apple’s manufacturing efforts is its recent pivot toward 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 a Wall Street Journal report in December that cited people familiar with the matter. Apple decided to diversify its manufacturing operations following challenges that emerged during the pandemic and also due to ongoing political tensions between the U.S. and China that could impact supply chains.

But Cook’s latest charm offensive highlights the continuing importance of China to Apple’s bottom line and its desire to retain the supply chains and factories that it’s spent years developing there.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
You can no longer buy Apple products in Russia
A person using the Apple iPhone 13 Pro.

Apple today joined the list of tech companies that have responded to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine. In its most significant move yet, the company paused sales of its entire product line up in Russia with immediate effect, Bloomberg reports. The decision has resulted in the cessation of sales being made via Apple's online store for Russia. People attempting to buy an Apple product via the Russian Apple Store are now welcomed with a 'Delivery Unavailable' message, MacRumors reports.

Apple also issued a statement confirming the developments and added that it has already stopped the exports of its products to Russia effective last week. In addition, several of Apple's services -- including Apple Pay -- have been severely restricted in the country. Apple has also removed RT News and Sputnik News apps from all App stores outside Russia. The company has also disabled live traffic data and live incidents in Ukraine as a precautionary measure.

Read more
Apple reports record revenue despite global chip shortage
apple file system

Apple on Thursday reported record revenue for its most recent quarter, thanks largely to strong sales of the new iPhone 13.

Despite ongoing challenges caused by the global chip shortage, the tech giant reported earnings of $123.9 billion for the three-month period ending December 25, 2021 -- a significant increase over the $111.4 billion it recorded for the same quarter a year earlier.

Read more
Trump asks Apple to build out 5G in U.S. That’s not how it works
President Trump Tours the Apple Manufacturing Plant

In a recent visit to Apple’s Mac Pro manufacturing facility in Austin, Texas, President Donald Trump asked Apple CEO Tim Cook to help build 5G in the U.S. -- even though Apple is not a cellular carrier. 

Trump’s visit to the Apple location on November 20 was meant to “introduce” the “new” facility (even though it’s been open and operating since 2013), but Trump also apparently talked to Cook about the race for 5G connection. 

Read more