Tag: Cook, Timothy D

Has China Lost Its Taste for the iPhone?

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For years, Apple dominated the market for high-end smartphones in China. No other company made a device that could compete with the iPhone’s performance — or its position as a status object in the eyes of wealthy, cosmopolitan shoppers. But evidence is mounting that, for many in China, the iPhone no longer holds the appeal it used to. During the first six weeks of the year, historically a peak season for Chinese shoppers to spring for a new phone, iPhone sales fell 24 percent from a year earlier, according to…

What the Biden-Xi Talks Accomplished (and Didn’t)

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Biden and Xi try direct diplomacy The mood music was upbeat but pragmatic after the first face-to-face meeting in a year between President Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. There was no joint communiqué after Wednesday’s talks, but both sides issued positive statements trumpeting where they found common ground, including on tackling climate change and improving communications. The San Francisco summit, and Xi’s banquet with American business leaders afterward, were signs of how entwined the economies remain despite years of rising tensions — and why both sides and many…

Foxconn, China Contractor for Apple, Said to Be Under Tax Audit

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Foreign and local companies in China are increasingly the targets of tax audits and other regulatory reviews, as local governments try to steady their finances by collecting more revenue. The latest company to come under scrutiny is Foxconn of Taiwan. Chinese state media outlets reported on Sunday that the company was facing investigations in four provinces. Foxconn, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronics, is Apple’s main contractor for the production of everything from iPhones to MacBook laptop computers. Global Times, a nationalistic tabloid and website owned by the…

Apple’s Stock Falls on Reports of a Chinese Government iPhone Ban

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Apple’s China conundrum Shares in Apple, the world’s most valuable public company, suffered their biggest single-day fall in a month on Wednesday following a report that China would extend a ban on iPhones for government workers. Any hint that the company’s business in China is under threat would understandably give investors a fright, and its shares are down another 3 percent in premarket trading Thursday morning. But the ripples will be felt more broadly: If one of the most successful operators in the world’s second-largest economy is at risk, can…

China Wants to Set the Terms of Any ‘Thaw’ With the U.S.

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For a few weeks, a flurry of meetings between American and Chinese officials seemed to signal that the two countries were trying to reduce tensions, after months of rancor and frozen high-level contacts raised concerns about the risk of a conflict, accidental or otherwise. First the U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, met with China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in Vienna, in May. Then the two countries’ top commerce officials held talks, the first bilateral cabinet-level meeting in Washington in months. China’s ambassador also arrived in Washington last week, finally…

Elon’s Two-Day War with Apple + How to Beat an A.I. Censor + S.B.F.’s ‘Bad Month’

Chin@Strategy

Listen and follow ‘Hard Fork’Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon | Google Elon Musk accuses Apple of trying to sabotage Twitter. But after his visit with Apple’s C.E.O., Tim Cook, things are … good? Then, the New York Times reporter Paul Mozur on the tactics Chinese protesters are deploying to avoid the most sophisticated censorship apparatus in the world. Plus: S.B.F. says it’s been a “bad month.” Credits “Hard Fork” is hosted by Kevin Roose and Casey Newton and produced by Davis Land. The show is edited by Paula…