China

Apple's iPhone shipments in China dropped by 33% in February compared to the same month last year, according to governement figures (via Bloomberg). A report from China's Academy of Information and Communications Technology showed that foreign brands shipped around 2.4 million smartphones last month. Given that Apple is the only overseas vendor with a meaningful market share, the company...

Chinese tech giant Tencent has agreed to make some of its most important apps available on Apple's Vision Pro headset ahead of its launch in the country later this year, The Information reports. Tencent is one of the biggest multimedia companies in the world and its apps and services are ubiquitous in China. It owns Weibo, WeChat, QQ, WeBank, Tencent Pictures, and games such as Honor of...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today confirmed that the Vision Pro headset will go on sale in China later this year (via Reuters). Responding to a question from the press at the China Development Forum in Beijing, Cook confirmed that Apple's first spatial computer will launch in the country in 2024. He added that Apple will continue to increase research and development investment in China. Earlier this...

Apple CEO Tim Cook is touring Shanghai, China this week, meeting with retail employees, suppliers, developers, the film industry, and others. He has been sharing photos from his trip on Chinese social media platform Weibo. Cook's visit is timed with the upcoming grand opening of Apple's new Jing'an store in Shanghai on Thursday, March 21 at 7 p.m. local time. Apple provided more details...

The Apple's Vision Pro headset may still face trademark issues with Huawei when the company launches it in China. As highlighted by the South China Morning Post, Chinese tech giant Huawei registered the "Vision Pro" name in the country in 2021. This registration encompasses a wide array of goods and services, including virtual reality headsets and wearable video displays, effectively...

Apple is planning to expand its applied research and development labs in China, the company today announced. In a statement shared with the South China Morning Post, Apple said that it plans to expand its research center in Shanghai "to support all of its product lines," as well as open a new lab in Shenzhen later in 2024 that will work on testing and research of major products including the ...

Apple today announced the imminent opening of its eighth retail store in central Shanghai, China, which will be named Apple Jing'an. Located on Nanjing West Road in the Jing'an District (named after its famous ancient Jing'an Temple), Apple Jing'an will become the 57th Apple store in mainland China and Apple says it's the company's second-largest flagship store after the Fifth Avenue...

Apple's iPhone sales in China saw a significant decline in the first six weeks of this year that saw it lose the title of China's best-selling smartphone maker to a local vendor. ‌iPhone‌ sales dropped by 24 percent, pushing Apple down to fourth among smartphone makers in the country, according to Counterpoint Research. Vivo took the top spot, thanks to its success in the budget segment of...

Apple resellers in China are offering discounts on iPhone 15 models by as much as $180, indicating an unusually lengthy drop in demand, reports Bloomberg. According to the media outlet, Alibaba's Tmall is trying to drive sales of the premium handsets by offering them at less than the roughly $120 discount Apple offered around the same time last year. The discounts follow Apple's own rare ...

Apple's decision to cancel its electric vehicle project has surprised ambitious new Chinese automakers like Xiaomi, the South China Morning Post reports. Yesterday, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman revealed that after a decade of work and millions of dollars in development costs Apple has canceled its plans to bring an EV to market, moving many of the 2,000 staff working on the project to generative...

iOS 18's rumored AI features could revive faltering iPhone sales in China, according to DigiTimes. In a paywalled report, DigiTimes explains that despite the Chinese market pivoting toward high-end devices, ‌iPhone‌ sales have reportedly struggled since the start of 2024 in the region against rival brands offering generative AI features and foldable displays. In December 2023, Apple...

Apple's Vision Pro headset will be released in China as early as April and "no later than May," according to supply chain sources quoted by Asia's Wall Street News (via IT Home). According to the report, the registration process for the device at China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is nearing completion, which will pave the way for the Vision Pro's launch in the country,...

Apple will launch a rare promotional discount on its iPhones in China, offering customers as much as 500 yuan ($70) off the price of its flagship devices ahead of the Lunar New Year in February. The promotion, which runs from January 18 through January 21, applies to everything from the iPhone 13 to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, and also includes smaller discounts off other major Apple products...

Apple's AirDrop feature has reportedly been cracked by a Chinese state-backed institution, allowing authorities to identify senders who share "undesirable content" over the peer-to-peer wireless protocol (via Bloomberg). AirDrop is Apple's ad-hoc service that lets users discover nearby Macs and iOS devices and securely transfer files between them over Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Users can send and...

Apple appears to be facing an uphill battle to reverse falling iPhone sales in China, with last year's double-digit decline projected to deepen through 2024 owing to strong interest in Huawei's latest home-grown lineup, according to analyst expectations (via Bloomberg). Huawei Mate 60 Pro In an investor note on Sunday citing industry checks, Jeffries analyst Edison Lee said Apple in December...

Apple's Vision Pro headset is on the brink of launch as retail stores are beginning final preparations for the device to go on sale, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that the Vision Pro is now shipping in small quantities to warehouses across the United States ahead of direct distribution to Apple retail stores. While the company has not...

At least five employees who worked for the App Store in China have been fired for inappropriate conduct with developers and consultants, according to a report from The Information. ‌App Store‌ employees with review and editorial roles are not supposed to meet with developers, but an internal audit raised suspicions about half a dozen workers, leading to an investigation. Apple found that the ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a surprise visit to China amid reports that iPhone 15 sales are down in the country compared to last year's iPhone 14 models (via Bloomberg). Cook visited an Apple's Taikoo Li store in Chengdu to watch a local gaming tournament for the major Tencent game "Honor of Kings" and talk to shoppers and staff. Cook later posted about the event on Weibo with a short video, ...

Apple has started requiring new apps to show proof of a Chinese government license in order to be listed on the China App Store, as the company joins rival app stores that adopted the policy years earlier to meet tightening state regulations (via Reuters). Apple last Friday began requiring an "internet content provider (ICP) filing" from developers when they submit new apps to be published...

Apple staff met with Chinese officials in recent months to discuss concerns over new rules that will restrict Apple from offering many foreign apps currently available in its China App Store, according to a new paywalled Wall Street Journal report. China already blocks the websites of many popular Western social media apps like Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, YouTube, and...