China

Production on Apple's devices has been stymied in recent weeks due to delays caused by the coronavirus outbreak in China. Many of Apple's China-based suppliers had to shut down for two weeks or more in February, and there are still staffing issues as factories work to ramp up production around travel bans, quarantines, and other problems. Amid the China coronavirus outbreak, which has caused ...

A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute think-tank has named Apple among 83 other major companies benefiting from the use of potentially abusive labor transfer programs. The Chinese government has allegedly transferred thousands of Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities from Xinjiang to factories across the country, implicating global supply chains. The report...

Apple has again declined a request to testify at a U.S. congressional hearing that is part of a wider investigation into Chinese influence on technology companies. According to The Washington Post, both Apple and TikTok declined an invitation from U.S. Senator Josh Hawley to attend the hearing, which took place on Monday, February 24. Apple and TikTok each have declined a request to...

Apple has now reopened 29 of its 42 retail locations in China, according to Apple's store websites in the country that were reviewed by Bloomberg. Many of Apple's stores in China have been shut down for the last few weeks due to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. Most locations that have been reopened continue to operate on shortened hours, with some open for less than eight hours a day....

Apple has updated its website to indicate that it will reopen 10 more stores across China, following closures due to the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan. The stores, listed below, will reopen on February 19 for limited business hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., or 12 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time until further notice, as noted by iMore. Chengdu Apple Chengdu Vientiane City Apple...

As expected, Apple reopened its five retail stores in the Beijing area today as the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China continues. In a video shared by CNBC senior correspondent Eunice Yoon, Apple employees can be seen checking the body temperatures of customers as they enter the store for signs of fever. Yoon says Apple is also limiting the number of customers allowed in the store at once,...

Apple has updated its website to indicate that all five of its retail stores in the Beijing area will be reopening February 14 with limited hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time until further notice, as noted by Reuters. Apple has yet to announce reopening dates for its other stores in mainland China, which remain listed as closed through at least February 19 on its website due to the Wuhan...

Apple's main iPhone assembler Foxconn has told employees not to return to work at its Shenzhen facility in China when the extended Lunar New Year break ends on February 10, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg. "To safeguard everyone's health and safety and comply with government virus prevention measures, we urge you not to return to Shenzhen," Foxconn wrote in a text message sent to...

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...