As iPhone sales decline, Apple CEO Tim Cook makes a ‘surprise’ visit to China – Times of India

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a ‘surprise’ visit to China. According to a report by Bloomberg, Cook arrived in the country and visited the city of Chengdu, where he interacted with gamers. As per the report, Cook also met with gamers of Tencent’s popular game, Honour of Kings.
Cook posted on Chinese social media platform Weibo about his interaction with gamers. “The action-packed Honour of Kings started here in Chengdu and is now a global phenomenon on the App Store. Thank you TiMi Studio Group and all the talented gamers who were competing at Apple Taikoo Li Chengdu. The energy tonight was off the charts,” he wrote. As the tweet suggests, Cook went to the Apple Taikoo Li store in Chengdu as well.

Huawei’s phones more popular

According to another report by Bloomberg, which cites a report by Counterpoint Research, Huawei’s Mate 60 Pro has outsold the iPhone 15 in China. In fact, the sales of iPhone 15 series are less compared to the iPhone 14 series. In the first 17 days, as per the report, the sales of iPhone 15 series are 4.5% less than that of iPhone 14 series.
Analysts at Jeffries, on the other hand, say that Apple’s sales have declined in double-digit percentage. The analysts also predict that Huawei could beat Apple in China in 2024. “The trend suggests iPhone would lose to Huawei in 2024,” writes Jefferies analysts. “We believe weak demand in China would eventually lead to lower-than-expected global shipments of iPhone.” Since China is one of the biggest smartphone market — and an extremely crucial one for Apple — the overall shipments of iPhone could be impacted.
Counterpoint Research says that the Chinese economy is still suffering due to the Covid-19 pandemic and that has had an impact on the sales of iPhones in the country.