Apple CEO Tim Cook meets China’s IT minister during visit to Beijing, Health Ministry says
By Casey Hall, Joe Cash
Beijing – Apple CEO Tim Cook met Wednesday with China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong during his visit to Beijing this week, the ministry said in a statement.
During the meeting, Jin told Cook that he hopes Apple (NASDAQ:) will continue to deepen its presence in China, increase new investments, grow with Chinese companies and share the benefits of high-quality development, the statement showed.
Apple did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
This trip is Cook’s second to China this year. His posts on social media platform X-like Weibo (NASDAQ:) showed that he visited an organic farm and toured ancient sites with artists including local photographer Chen Man.
China is the world’s largest smartphone market where, in recent times, the iPhone maker has been losing market share to domestic rivals.
Apple began sales in China of its latest smartphones on September 20, the same day that local champion Huawei launched a rival handset. The new iPhones got off to a good start with sales up 20% in the first three weeks of launch compared to the previous model, data from researcher Counterpoint showed.
However, overall iPhone sales in China fell 2% year over year during the three-week period due to declining sales of older models and growing competition from Huawei’s Mate and Pura series, Counterpoint said.
