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Apple CEO Tim Cook Visits China Amid Reports of Lower iPhone 15 Sales

Apple CEO Tim Cook has made a surprise visit to China amid reports that iPhone 15 sales are down in the country compared to last year's ‌iPhone‌ 14 models (via Bloomberg).

Tim Cook iPhone 15 launch
Cook visited an Apple's Taikoo Li store in Chengdu to watch a local gaming tournament for the major Tencent game "Honor of Kings" and talk to shoppers and staff. Cook later posted about the event on Weibo with a short video, saying that "the energy tonight was off the charts!" Cook then visited a Yucheng elementary school to see how students use the iPad to support local culture.

The appearance comes just a day after two Counterpoint Research studies claimed that ‌iPhone‌ 15 sales are down 4.5% versus last year's ‌iPhone‌ 14 lineup in China, causing Apple's share price to fall. As a result, Cook's visit is being widely associated with concern about ‌iPhone‌ 15 sales in China across various mainstream media outlets.

Cook's posts on Weibo during the trip have also aroused a usual amount of ire. For example, Cook shared a photo of Chengdu at night shot on an ‌iPhone‌ 15 Pro Max. The post was then "flooded with complaints" about the ostensibly poor quality of the image and unfavorable comparisons to pictures from Chinese devices like Huawei's recently Mate 60 Pro.

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Top Rated Comments

31 months ago
I'm missing the connection between a trip and sales going down. Is it assumed that his "celebrity" will help increase sales? Surely market research could be done by locals better than the CEO coming into a small part of the country too.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
31 months ago

Cook's posts on Weibo during the trip have also aroused a usual amount of ire. For example, Cook shared a photo of Chengdu at night shot on an iPhone 15 Pro Max. The post was then "flooded with complaints" about the poor quality of the image and unfavorable comparisons to pictures from Chinese devices like Huawei's recently Mate 60 Pro.
LOL, color me shocked! I bet Pooh Bear couldn't issue that order fast enough.

The Huawei's could have a camera that is 10 times better than any other, I still wouldn't buy it.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
31 months ago
"The post was then 'flooded with complaints' about the poor quality of the image and unfavorable comparisons to pictures from Chinese devices like Huawei's recently Mate 60 Pro."

Have to love those state-sponsored bot accounts and/or nationalists who don't like "Western" companies and/or people/bots who don't like Apple. It's like the commenters who come to MR to complain about how terrible Apple products are because apparently there’s nothing better to do.

This isn’t to say the Mate 60 Pro has a worse camera (it’s supposed to be quite good), but people complaining that the 15 Pro Max has a terrible camera are not doing so from an objective perspective. This means they are likely falling into one of the groups I mentioned.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac_The_Ripper Avatar
31 months ago
Tim Cook wants to save the planet and have peace on earth...in other news, Tim Cook visits China (the pillar of environmentalism and human rights) where he sold his soul to the highest bidder.
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tomtad Avatar
31 months ago
Reality is this is only going to continue as the Chinese phone makers continue to improve.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
31 months ago

"The post was then 'flooded with complaints' about the poor quality of the image and unfavorable comparisons to pictures from Chinese devices like Huawei's recently Mate 60 Pro."

Have to love those state-sponsored bot accounts.
Yep, because no phone can take better pictures than iPhone...

Wait what? Huawei P60 Pro is actually above iPhone 15 Pro Max https://www.dxomark.com/smartphones/ - shocker
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)