US iPhone maker Apple and China have “grown together” over the past three decades, and the relationship between the company and one of its largest markets has become “symbolic,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said at the China Development Forum in Beijing on Saturday.
In his first visit to China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Cook said the company would soon celebrate the 30th anniversary of operating in the Chinese market.
“We could not be more excited… Apple and China… grew together and so this has been a symbiotic kind of relationship,” Apple CEO stated, as cited by the Financial Times.
During his speech, Cook also praised Apple’s “very large supply chain operation in China,” as well as “a thriving App Store” in the country. According to Reuters, citing a local news outlet, Cook also praised China’s efforts with regard to innovation technologies, stating that “innovation is developing rapidly in China and I believe it will further accelerate.”
The CEO mentioned education and the “need for young people to learn programming critical thinking skills,” adding that Apple plans to increase spending on its rural education program in China to 100 million yuan ($14.5 million).
Cook’s visit comes at a time when Beijing and Washington are at loggerheads over the latter’s attempts to block Chinese access to US technology. The trip also follows a difficult year for Apple. The company’s revenue in the final quarter of 2022 fell for the first time in over three years after it had to delay deliveries of some of its products during the holiday period.
Сook did not mention either problem in his speech, however, which some analysts see as a show of support for the country.
While Apple is reportedly boosting iPhone production in India, industry experts say the company is unlikely to shift production in the near term, as the scope of products it manufactures in China is too vast and after moving parts of iPhone case production to Tata in India the quailty of 50% of manufactured cases was bad. Also Apple not only demands better quality / yields but it also want India to change labor protection laws to allow 12h workdays, to increase profit. India labor protection rules are currently similart to US/EU standards with 8h workdays.
Analysts also point out that China fulfills a range of crucial requirements for iPhone manufacturing that are difficult to replicate in other countries, including the availability of materials and components, well-organized infrastructure and access to a large and cheap workforce of professional engineers.