China

Tim Cook joins board of China’s top Beijing university

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 22, 2013

As China becomes more important to Apple's bottom line, the iPhone maker will need to grease the wheels to ensure products are timely approved. In a step in that direction, Apple CEO Tim Cook has joined the advisory board of a prestigious engineering university - which also happens to include a number of prominent Chinese politicians.

Cook, who is also a Nike board member, has added his name to a panel assisting Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management (SEM), according to a report. As markets such as North America and Western Europe mature and growth slows, tech companies like Apple view China as a way to take up the slack...

iPhone 5c is narrowing on iPhone 5s lead, according to analytics firm

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 21, 2013

The popularity of Apple's iPhone 5c is increasing. After a string of reports suggesting more iPhone 5s handsets were being sold, new numbers shop the sales gap shrinking. In a curious move for a smartphone first thought to attract mainly emerging markets, the iPhone 5c popularity in the U.S. is higher than overall global demand.

According to researchers at Localytics, the ration of iPhone to iPhone 5s sales is 1.9, much smaller than the 3.4 ratio reported during the first week of sales for Apple's two new iPhones...

Foxconn: yes, interns worked overtime and even nights

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated November 30, 2016

Foxconn, the Tiawanese electronics assembler closely linked to Apple and other electronics firms, admits student interns who helped build Sony Playstation 4 consoles worked both overtime and at night in its China factories. Foxconn is the world's leading contract manufacturer whose fortunes are closely tied to Apple's.

In a statement last week, Foxconn said there were "a few instances" where interns worked shifts which violated company policies. However, the company which also assembles iPhones and iPads for Apple, said "immediate actions" will be put in place to prevent further incidents...

China Mobile iPhone launch should be imminent

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 14, 2013

Ahead of September's double iPhone launch, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple had finally inked a sought-after deal with China Mobile to distribute the iconic smartphone. Indeed, TENAA, the Chinese equivalent of the United States Federal Communications Commission, has made public documents pertaining to both new iPhones.

Specifically, the filings mention GSM-enabled TD-LTE radios inside the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c, proving Apple had in fact been given a network license for China Mobile's third and fourth-generation cellular services.

As Apple's existing carrier partners China Unicom and China Telecom use the more common CDMA variants (CDMA2000 or WCDMA), these TD-LTE network licenses are the strongest indication that China Mobile, the world's largest telco with 704+ million subscribers, may offer the iPhone 5s/5c real soon...

Apple seeks expert in China Mobile’s TD-LTE ahead of iPhone deal

Ed Sutherland ∙ October 9, 2013

Apple is a bit like a black hole: only by detecting its effect on nearby objects can observers discern its real intention. The latest clue to Apple's China card is a job posting seeking a networking expert in a technology only used by China Mobile. The engineer would be based in Beijing, supporting China Mobile's 3G technology TD-SCDMA, as well as TD-LTE, which the world's largest carrier is testing.

This latest report comes as the iPhone maker supposedly nears a deal with the carrier, which counts 63 percent of China's 1.2 billion wireless consumers among its subscribers. Still, Apple refuses to comment...

Foxconn could help ship Apple products directly to China to reduce import taxes

Christian Zibreg ∙ October 1, 2013

Foxconn, Apple's longtime partner, has been assembling Apple gadgets for years. The world's largest manufacturer and product assembler may have been at odds with its prime client lately over slowing sales, but that doesn't mean the two giants won't be extending their partnership - quite the contrary. If there's any substance to a new story published Tuesday, Apple may have found a way to reduce import taxes in mainland China by having Foxconn International provide new logistic and after-sale maintenance services to the technology giant...

Steve Jobs had hand in newly-patented glass entryway for Shanghai store

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated December 6, 2013

Typically, Apple patents technology sold within its retail locations. However, today the company received a patent for the design and construction of the glass cylindrical entrance to its Apple Store in Shanghai. Unlike most entrances, the one in Shanghai shapes huge slabs of glass, connected by a complex arrangement of fittings to form a building unto itself. To top it all off, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs is among the patent inventors...

Over 200 workers involved in brawl at Foxconn plant

Cody Lee ∙ September 24, 2013

Foxconn has confirmed that a large fight broke out last week at one of its Chinese campuses, according to a new report from The Wall Street Journal. The brawl attracted between 300 and 400 workers, and injured at least 11.

The outlet says that the fight between two different groups initially broke out last Thursday after workers gathered to celebrate China's Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, and saw workers wielding steel bars, batons and machetes...

80 percent of iPhone purchasers in China are picking the iPhone 5s

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated January 26, 2016

It seems Apple's release of the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c is chock full of surprises aside from the humungous 9 million units sold during the first weekend. Remember the iPhone 5c, first expected to be Apple's cheap iPhone, then forecast to win over emerging markets, such as China? Neither is true.

New analytics show more than 90 percent of the new iPhones sold in China this past weekend were the iPhone 5s. That's even higher than the 78 percent of global sales average the iPhone 5s enjoys on average...

Chinese carriers beat even the most aggressive U.S. iPhone 5s/5c offers

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated June 3, 2017

Remember last week's Apple stock tailspin launched by the high price in China of the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s? Talk centered on no-contract versions of the new handsets costing more than $730 and how Apple should just keep dreaming about competing against inexpensive Android alternatives.

Forget all that, because China's No. 2 and No. 3 carriers are out with prices on subsidized iPhones and they are low. In fact, one market observer believes the deals could beat even the most aggressive American offers...

Ming-Chi Kuo projects 8M iPhone 5s/5c opening weekend sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Despite worries Apple may be withholding pre-order figures on its new iPhones due to lower demand, one Wall Street observer says the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c could be a new sales record, topping last year's iPhone 5 launch.

According to KGI analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple probably will ship 6 to 8 million of the iPhones over the weekend, topping the iPhone 5 launch of 5 million units. The iPhone 5c will account for the majority of new iPhones sold between Friday and Monday...

Apple begins taking iPhone 5s reservations in China, most models already sold out

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 14, 2018

Apple took some criticism yesterday for not announcing any iPhone 5c sales numbers from its pre-order launch weekend. Many pundits took the PR silence as a sign that the plastic handset isn't selling very well.

But that doesn't seem to be the case with the company's flagship iPhone 5s. The phone just became available for advanced reservation in Hong Kong and mainland China, and several models have already sold out...