Chinese city of Shenzhen to host Apple’s 46th store in a bid to boost sales

SHENZHEN, China - This new store will be the second retail shop in Shenzhen City. The US tech giant continues to expand its presence on the mainland amid concerns about a manufacturing supply chain shift out of China.

This opening will expand the iPhone maker’s network of brick-and-mortar retail shops in mainland China to 46 locations.

It follows the launch of new Apple Stores in Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei province, last year and in Changsha, the capital of south-central Hunan province, in 2021.

Apple’s continued retail push on the mainland, the smartphone industry’s biggest market and home to the largest number of internet users underscore the company’s efforts to reinforce its commitment to the country, despite rising tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Earlier this year, Apple chief executive Tim Cook met China’s new premier Li Qiang and other senior government officials as part of a trip to reaffirm the company’s ties to the mainland amid geopolitical uncertainties.

During his whistle-stop tour of Beijing and Shanghai, Cook went on a charm offensive by visiting video gaming studio miHoYo and meeting various app developers, as well as stopping by the Sanlitun Apple Store, the company’s biggest retail shop in Asia.

The Greater China region, which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan, contributed US$23.9 billion or 20 percent to Apple’s global net sales in the three months that ended December 31, behind the Americas and Europe, according to the firm’s recent fiscal 2023 first-quarter results.

The world’s most valuable company, with a US$2.63 trillion valuation as of April, also topped smartphone sales in China in the fourth quarter of last year. It accounted for 23.7 percent of sales during the period, representing its highest-ever quarterly share in the market, according to data from Counterpoint Research.

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