China

Apple's primary iPhone assembler Foxconn has slashed its 2020 revenue outlook after strict quarantines at its main base in China to guard against the coronavirus outbreak (via Bloomberg). The company is now projecting a sales increase of 1% to 3% this year, Chairman Young Liu told Bloomberg News in a text message. That’s down from a Jan. 22 forecast of 3% to 5%, before the epidemic spread...

Every year in February, Apple hosts a company wide fitness challenge for all of its employees at its corporate and retail offices around the world. Employees are tasked with closing all three of their Apple Watch Activity rings every day during the month, and those that are successful earn a reward. Apple's 2020 challenge, which is in February because February is Heart Month, has been...

Apple today announced that it has closed all of its corporate offices, stores, and contact centers in mainland China through February 9 due to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, out of an abundance of caution. In a statement shared by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple said it will continue to closely monitor the situation:Our thoughts are with the people most immediately affected by the...

Apple has shared a heartwarming short film about three generations of Chinese women coming together for the Chinese New Year. The video, starring leading Chinese actress Zhou Xun, was shot on the iPhone 11 Pro. Prominently featured on Apple's website in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, the short film was directed by Academy Award nominee Theodore Melfi, with cinematography by Golden Globe Award...

Apple saw a significant jump in smartphone shipments in China last month thanks in part to the popularity of the iPhone 11, according to Bloomberg. The iPhone maker’s shipments in China grew 18.7% year on year in December to roughly 3.18 million units, according to Bloomberg calculations based on government data on overall and Android device shipments. The increase marked an acceleration...

Ahead of today's earnings call covering the fourth fiscal quarter of 2019, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an interview with Reuters that iPhone 11 sales are off to a "very, very good start" so far, and the launch has led to improved sales in key markets like China. In China in particular, the lower $699 starting price of the ‌iPhone‌ 11 is "more similar to the price points that [Apple] had great...

Apple today announced that it is the first company to receive a Green Supply Chain CITI Outstanding Brand award for its environmental efforts in China, specifically its contributions towards making its entire supply chain more environmentally responsible. Apple announced the news on its Chinese site (via 9to5Mac), and said that as a CITI brand, the company will continue to maintain a "superior ...

Apple CEO Tim Cook is now the chairman of the advisory board of the Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management (SEM) in Beijing, and he recently hosted the 20th annual meeting of the committee. The news of his appointment was shared in a recap of the 2019 meeting of the board, which is the 20th annual meeting since the committee was established. Cook has been a member of the...

U.S lawmakers on Friday sent a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook expressing concern over Apple's decision to remove the HKMap Live app from the App Store after complaints from the Chinese Government. The letter [PDF] calls Apple's removal of the HKMap Live app "disappointing" and points out a prior quote from ‌Tim Cook‌ that reads "At Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values drive our...

Following user concern over Apple using Chinese company Tencent as one of its Safe Browsing partners for Safari, Apple has issued a statement assuring customers that website URLs are not shared with its safe browsing partners. For those unfamiliar with the feature, Safari sends data to Google Safe Browsing to cross reference URLs against a blacklist to protect users against scams and malicious ...

Apple's Fraudulent Website Warning feature in Safari for iOS and Mac has come under scrutiny for using Chinese internet giant Tencent as one of its Safe Browsing providers. The Safari feature has long sent data to Google Safe Browsing to cross-reference URLs against a blacklist and protect users against phishing scams and sites that attempt to push malware. However, it's unclear when Apple...

In the same week that Apple's decision to pull a Hong Kong protest app from the App Store drew heavy criticism, a new report from BuzzFeed News claims the company has asked Apple TV+ show runners to avoid negative depictions of China. As early as 2018, when Apple's original programming production got underway, company executives reportedly gave guidance to some show creators to "avoid...

Apple CEO Tim Cook has written to employees defending the company's controversial decision to pull an app used by Hong Kong protestors to coordinate gatherings and avoid large concentrations of police. Apple removed HKMap Live from the App Store on Thursday following the app's approval last week, which itself only came after an internal review of the company's original decision to reject it....

Apple has pulled an app from the App Store that Hong Kong protestors have been using to track police movements, saying it violates the company's guidelines and local laws. Apple approved HKmap Live last week after reviewing its decision to initially reject the app from the ‌App Store‌. However, on Wednesday Apple was criticized by Chinese state media for its decision to make the app...

Apple has come under attack from China for allowing an app in its App Store that is being used by Hong Kong protestors to track protests and police movements in the city state (via The Guardian). Last week we reported that Apple was reviewing its decision to reject the HKmap Live app from the ‌App Store‌ while it investigated whether the software violates local laws. HKmap Live has been used...

Apple has reportedly banned an app that allows Hong Kong protestors to track protests and police movements in the city state, despite increasing international condemnation against the violence used by the authorities. According to The Register, Apple has told the makers of the HKmap Live app that it can't be allowed in the App Store because it helps protestors to evade the police. "Your app ...

Last year, Apple announced the launch of a $300 million Clean Energy Fund in China to connect suppliers with renewable energy sources. Apple and 10 of its suppliers in China will invest nearly $300 million by 2022 to develop projects totaling one gigawatt of renewable energy. In a press release today, Apple said that includes three wind firms in Hunan and Hubei that will generate...

Apple and manufacturing partner Foxconn have admitted to recruiting too many temporary staff in one of the world's biggest iPhone factories, following a report from a non-profit advocacy group alleging harsh working conditions (via Bloomberg). China Labor Watch (CLW), which investigates conditions in the country's factories, published its report on Sunday accusing the two companies of...

Last week we reported on Google's discovery of an old iPhone vulnerability – now fixed by Apple – that enabled malicious websites to steal data from thousands of users over a two-year period. Google described these attacks in its original blog post as "indiscriminate," however a report over the weekend by TechCrunch suggests the websites were part of a state-backed attack that specifically...

Apple CEO Tim Cook and U.S. President Donald Trump met for dinner on Friday evening, and Trump has since told reporters that the two discussed the impact of U.S. tariffs on Apple products imported from China. Melania Trump, Donald Trump, and ‌Tim Cook‌ in August 2018 Trump said Cook "made a good case" that tariffs could put Apple at a disadvantage given that rival Samsung's products would be...