Bloomberg reports Apple plans to introduce an iPhone trade-in program in China, similar to what's currently available from the company in the US, UK, India, and other countries. As China becomes one of Apple's most important markets, the ability to sell more iPhones is always a plus.
Research-firm Kantar Worldpanel released a note on Tuesday showing the iPhone is seeing continued growth in China. During the three months ending in January 2015, Apple reached its highest ever marketshare in the urban parts of the country as one in every four smartphones sold were an iPhone.
Apple, along with other leading Western technology companies, has been taken off the list of approved tech companies for state purchases in China, Reuters reported last evening.
Apparently in response to widespread Western cyber-surveillance, companies like Apple, network equipment maker Cisco Systems and chip giant Intel have now been removed from the Central Government Procurement Center's (CGPC) list.
The list, maintained and approved by China's Ministry of Finance, covers regular spending by central ministries.
On the surface, Apple's new store in Hangzhou, China doesn't look a lot different from other Apple Stores around the world - there's plenty of glass to be found and wooden tables that house plenty of Apple products. However at a closer glance, the latest Apple Store designed by Foster + Partners is quite an architectural feat.
Apple's retail expansion in China, coinciding with the Chinese New Year festivities, continues unabated with a brand new store now scheduled to open in Tianjin on Saturday, February 7, at 10am local time, as noted on the company's Chinese retail website.
The brick-and-mortar store is located near the Nankai District in the city of Tainjin, a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China.
No, not a Super Bowl advertisement.
The China arm of Apple has debuted its first television advertisement in the region on Sunday, during a time when China has been crucial to Apple's quarterly profits.
The one minute and a half advertisement, shown on the Apple China website and titled "Start Something New", is geared towards the Chinese New Year. It's similar to the US Apple advertisement called "The Song".
Apple is scheduled to open a new flagship retail store in Jiefangbei Square in Chongqing, China, its second store in the city.
The beautiful structure borrows Apple's Pudong store design in Shanghai: an above-ground all-glass cylinder with an Apple logo and a hand-painted mural conceals the actual store located under street level.
Apple invited select members of the press on a tour of the Chongqing store ahead of the grand opening tomorrow at 10am local time and Chinese blog MacX posted a series of images showing the store's deceptively large underground interior.
In addition to becoming the top smartphone seller in China (based on the 70 percent annual sales uptick in Greater China), Apple is now the top luxury gift provider in the country, knocking Hermès off the top spot, Reuters reported Thursday.
This is interesting because Hermès is a French manufacturer that was established back in 1837 and today specializes in a plethora of luxury products, ranging from leather and lifestyle accessories to perfumery and other luxury goods.
The Chinese government has adopted new cybersecurity rules targeted at Western technology companies that are bound to give firms like Apple a major headache.
According to The New York Times on Thursday, the new rules require vendors that sell computer equipment to Chinese banks to turn over secret source code.
The Chinese government also requires that Western technology providers submit to “invasive audits” and even build backdoors into hardware and software. As a result, the Apples, Dells and HPs of this world are going to need to jump through more hoops to do business in China.
Canalys is out with a note on Tuesday saying that Apple has garnered first place in the Chinese smartphone market for the first time by units shipped.
The research firm says the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were behind the large amount of growth in China in the fourth quarter of 2014, pushing the Cupertino-based company to the top spot.
Apple is set to report its earnings for the Christmas quarter on Tuesday after the market closes. Before the numbers hit in roughly 24 hours, Bloomberg has averaged numbers from Wall Street analysts to see how the company may fare. And as Business Insider puts it, this earnings report is going to be the big one.
New SVP of Retail and former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts said Apple's retail presence in China is going to expand from 15 to 40 stores within two years.
And one of the new stores is opening this Sunday in Chongqing, a major metropolis in Southwest China and one of the five national central cities in the 1.33 billion people country.
Scheduled to open at 10am local time on Sunday, January 31, the store is officially called Jiefangbei. It's even more gorgeous than the Pudong store in Shanghai and marks Apple's second flagship outlet that uses its patented cylindrical glass entrance design.
Apple posted a video posted to its Chinese retail website ahead of grand opening. In it, the firm details a collaboration between China-based artist Yangyang Pan and US-based photographer and engineer Navid Baraty who joined forces to create a breathtaking mural art for the store.