By Reuters | Updated: March 21, 2024
SHANGHAI, March 21 (Reuters) – Apple (AAPL.O), opens new tab CEO Tim Cook opened Apple’s new store in Shanghai drawing a large crowd on Thursday, with some people queuing overnight, according to posts on Chinese social media.
Cook arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday, he said on his personal Weibo account.
Local media also reported him meeting with Apple’s Chinese suppliers including Wang Chuanfu, founder and president of BYD, whose electronics arm supplies components to the U.S. firm.
Apple is battling falling iPhone sales in China and rising competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei (HWT.UL). Apple’s iPhone sales in China fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of this year, according to consultancy estimates.
Cook is expected to travel next to Beijing to attend the China Development Forum, a gathering of foreign CEOs with top Chinese policymakers.
The new store, which faces Shanghai’s historic Jing’an Temple, is Apple’s 57th in China and its eighth in the Chinese financial hub. It is also the company’s second-largest flagship store after its Fifth Avenue outlet in New York city.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
