Has China Lost Its Taste for the iPhone?

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…

Michael Spavor Reaches Settlement With Canada Over Detention by China

The government of Canada has reached a financial settlement with one of two Canadian men it contends were arbitrarily detained for nearly three years by China in a retaliatory move, the man’s lawyer said. John K. Phillips, who represents Michael Spavor, told The Associated Press Wednesday evening that “I am only able to say that the matter between Mr. Spavor and the government of Canada has been resolved.” Mr. Spavor, a businessman who had extensive dealings in North Korea, and Michael Kovrig, a then a Canadian diplomat who was on…

Apple Will Discount iPhones by $70 in China Starting Thursday

Ever bought a discounted new phone from Apple? For most people, the answer is no. That’s because Apple doesn’t really do discounts. But in China, Apple is slashing the price of some of its latest iPhones by $70 amid worries that Chinese consumers have cooled on the brand. That would save a buyer about 6 to 8 percent, based on prices on Apple’s China website. It has also knocked $112 off the price of some MacBook Air laptops. The sale will start on Thursday and run through Sunday. Cutting prices…

Warnings Emerge Over Emirati A.I. Firm G42’s Ties to China

When the secretive national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed, visited the White House in June, his American counterpart, Jake Sullivan, raised a delicate issue: G42, an artificial intelligence firm controlled by the sheikh that American officials believe is hiding the extent of its work with China. In public, the company has announced its staggering growth with a steady cadence of news releases. They have included agreements with European pharmaceutical giants like AstraZeneca and a $100 million deal with a Silicon Valley firm to build…

Gifts, Gadgets and Greece: Inside a Huawei Lobbying Campaign

In November 2020, executives at Huawei, the Chinese telecom-equipment maker, exchanged messages about holding a meeting with a “friend” and an “adviser” in Greece. The contacts, identified as Greek government advisers, were set to provide Huawei with something valuable: a document outlining government contracts and “first priority projects” that the company might want to work on in the country. Huawei managers discussed giving the advisers a Huawei Mate XS smartphone, the company’s GT 2 smartwatch and wine, according to internal text messages and other documents reviewed by The New York…

China Denies Banning iPhones, but Cites Unspecified Security Concerns

China on Wednesday made its first public comments about reports that the government is restricting the use of Apple’s iPhones by some state employees, saying that Beijing had noted what it claimed were security concerns about the device. The comments by Mao Ning, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry, were short on details. She pointed to what she described as “media reports” about security flaws in the iPhone, without elaborating. She also said China had not published “any law, regulation or policy document” banning the purchase or use of foreign…

As Smartphone Industry Sputters, the iPhone Expands Its Dominance

There’s a general rule about consumer electronics: The older a device becomes, the more competitors appear and prices fall. This was true for televisions, personal computers and portable music players. It was supposed to happen with smartphones. But the iPhone has defied gravity. On Tuesday, Apple will unveil the 17th iteration of its flagship product. Remarkably, at an age in which most consumer devices have lost some of their appeal to users, Apple has increased its share of smartphone sales over less expensive rivals. Over the past five years, the…

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

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…

Huawei Phone Is Latest Shot Fired in the U.S.-China Tech War

In the midst of the U.S. commerce secretary’s good will tour to China last week, Huawei, the telecom giant that faces stiff U.S. trade restrictions, unveiled a smartphone that illustrated just how hard it has been for the United States to clamp down on China’s tech prowess. The new phone is powered by a chip that appears to be the most advanced version of China’s homegrown technology to date — a kind of achievement that the United States has been trying to prevent China from reaching. The timing of its…

China’s Cloud Computing Firms Raise Concern for U.S.

Samm Sacks, a cyber policy fellow at the New America think tank, said the interest in cloud computing reflected the Biden administration’s approach of looking at Chinese influence in the infrastructure of the internet and the digital services that use the web. “There’s an intent to focus on the whole ecosystem across those layers,” she said. U.S. efforts to hinder Chinese tech firms have had mixed success. American restrictions on suppliers to Huawei hurt the company’s smartphone business, but efforts to remove Huawei equipment from wireless networks inside the United…