Tim Cook opens the largest Apple store in Asia in Shanghai

The CEO of the American technology company Apple, Tim Cook, inaugurated this Thursday the company’s largest store in Asia, located in the eastern Chinese megalopolis of Shanghai, a sign of commitment to a market where its sales are suffering from local rivals .

Cook, who arrived in the considered economic capital of China this Wednesday, officially opened the doors of the establishment at night and accompanied by Apple’s vice president of sales and personnel, Deirdre O’Brien, indicates the local news portal Shine.

Hundreds of fans of the American brand had been queuing for hours – some of them even since Wednesday night – in front of the new store, located in a newly renovated area in front of the popular Buddhist temple of Jing’an, located in the heart of the city and one of its great attractions.

Shanghai now has eight Apple stores, a figure that the local press compares to six in Hong Kong, five in Beijing or seven in New York.

Since the first of them opened in mid-2010, they have received a total of 163 million visitors.

‘Greater China’ (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) is the third largest market for Apple behind the Americas and Europe; However, the technology company faces significant pressure in the world’s second largest economy, where its iPhone sales fell 24% year-on-year in the first six weeks of the year, according to data from the consulting firm Counterpoint Research.

That report pointed to Huawei’s renewed competition in the most exclusive segments and the disadvantage in the mid-ranges due to the aggressive pricing strategies of local brands such as Oppo, Vivo or Xiaomi.

The Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post recalled this week that distributors of Apple products began to offer strong discounts of up to about 1,150 yuan (US$ 159, 147 euros) on some iPhone 15 series devices to try to give a new boost to sales.

In the last quarter, Apple increased its revenue in all the regions where it operates except in China, where it fell 13%.

After this, Cook has embarked on a campaign to reverse the situation, announcing the creation of a new research and development (R&D) laboratory in Shenzhen (southeast) and the expansion of the one the company already has in Shanghai or holding meetings with important executives such as the founder and president of BYD, the world’s largest seller of electric vehicles.

Likewise, in an interview with the official newspaper China Daily, Cook said: ““There is no supply chain in the world that is more vital to us than China.”

After his visit to Shanghai, the CEO of Apple will participate starting this Sunday in the China Development Forum to be held in Beijing and during which, according to the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, He will meet with some heads of American companies.