The Chief Executive Officer of Apple Inc. Tim Cook on Wednesday, March 20, posted a video indicating that he arrived in Shanghai, where the opening ceremony of the new store of the technology giant will take place on Thursday, March 21.
The mentioned facility will be located in the central district of Shanghai. Together with actor Zheng Kai, Tim Cook walks through the financial and commercial hub of China. The video shows the Apple CEO crossing a bridge near the historic Bund and eating xiaolongbao in a restaurant. The relevant information material was published on Tim Cook’s account, registered on the online platform Weibo. Also in the video, the Apple CEO says Hello in a Shanghai dialect. Around 500 thousand users saw this video within minutes of being posted.
For many years, Tim Cook has been saying that the relationship between Apple and China is symbiotic. The most likely reason for his visit to Shanghai is the opening of Apple Jingan, the tech giant’s eighth store in the city. It is worth noting that Tim Cook did not disclose the reason for his stay in the financial and commercial center of China. The tech giant’s expanded presence in the mentioned country is an action as part of a broader effort to grow and revitalize major retail outlets.
There are currently 47 Apple stores in China. It is worth noting that the retail network of the technology giant in this country is the largest outside the United States.
Currently, the ongoing history of Apple’s presence in China is within an unfavorable period. In this country, there is a decrease in consumer demand for the latest 15th-generation iPhone, which was presented last year. This trend, which is negative for Apple, is due to increased competition from local smartphone manufacturers, primarily Huawei. Another factor in the adverse impact on the dynamic of iPhone 15 sales in the Chinese market was the tacit ban on the use of Tim Cook’s company’s mobile phones in workplaces in government agencies and firms backed by the authority of the country. Moreover, assumptions about the high probability of strengthening the mentioned restrictive measures are putting pressure on the prospects for a recovery in consumer interest in Apple smartphones in China.
Analysts at Jefferies Independent Investment Bank, led by Edison Lee, said in early January 2024 that the specified trend of deterioration in the tech giant’s commercial performance is likely to intensify in the foreseeable future. It is worth noting that this is a very sensitive issue for Apple since China is one of its main markets.
Barclays analysts in early January 2024 also announced negative sales prospects for the iPhone 15. Amid pessimistic expectations, they even downgraded the tech giant’s rating to underweight.
Last year, the price of Apple shares increased by 50%. The company’s market value has also reached the historical mark of $3 trillion. This dynamic was associated with expectations that the iPhone 15, in the context of commercial indicators, would be able to overcome macroeconomic difficulties, but the reality turned out to be much less favorable for the materialization of optimistic expectations.
