#科技之巅 #
Text/Wang Xinxi
In the past few days, Apple CEO Cook's visit to China has aroused heated discussions and attention in the industry, especially when someone held up a Xiaomi 13 series mobile phone and took a photo with Cook on the Internet, and Cook said that he was very happy to return to China, and every time he came to China, it was very rewarding. At the 2023 annual meeting of the China Development High-Level Forum, Cook stressed that Apple and China have grown together in a "symbiotic relationship". The posture of standing in China is as always.
To some extent, Apple has become bigger in the Chinese market, and Cook has contributed a lot.
A few days ago, while visiting China, Cook also focused on digital teaching in underdeveloped areas of China, and announced an additional donation of 50 million yuan to the China Development Research Foundation, which is expected to affect more than 120,000 teachers and more than 2 million students. So far, Apple has donated a total of 100 million yuan to the foundation.
Cook said that origin and family background should not define your life. Cook's view has also won unanimous praise. There is no doubt that compared with a number of domestic manufacturers who are keen to step on each other, or belittle friends, or question the taste of consumers, Cook's actions, words and deeds are a higher level in terms of values and style, and have won the recognition of many netizens at the current sensitive moment.
Whether it's releasing a gesture of friendship to China or abiding by Chinese law, over the past many years, Cook has done everything he says and does appropriately.
In addition, for a long time, Cook's marketing has never been a friend or a political topic, adhering to positive and mainstream values, Cook's always gentle and friendly posture, but also made the lack of innovation Apple's favorability, reputation and sales in China have been stable.
Cook needs to stabilize the Chinese market
Apple's visit to China revealed several information: first, Apple's performance in the Chinese market is very good, and its revenue in the Chinese market has exceeded that of the US market; Therefore, in order to stabilize the growth of the Chinese market, it is necessary to continue to focus heavily on the Chinese market.
Secondly, Apple should continue to strengthen cooperation with Chinese enterprises in terms of talent, technology and capital, and Apple will also increase investment in the Chinese market.
A few days ago, the research agency Counterpoint Research released a report announcing the sales performance of high-end smartphones in 2022. In the past year, Apple's sales in the global high-end market have increased by 6% year-on-year, accounting for 75% of the market share, expanding to three-quarters of the total sales in this segment. Combined with the list information, Apple has once again expanded its share of the high-end market in the past year.
In the Chinese market, Apple's sales are still growing rapidly, and about 20% of Apple's sales come from Greater China. At present, there are 243 million iPhone users in China, accounting for 33.3% of the world's total users, while the United States ranks second, with 134 million iPhone users, accounting for 18.4%. Apple's number of users and revenue in the Chinese market have exceeded those in the US market.
Driven by strong iPhone sales, Apple has generated more than $40 billion a year in China since 2015, and last fiscal year, Apple's sales in China were nearly $75 billion. According to the financial report, Apple's revenue in Greater China increased by 57% year-on-year to $21.8 billion, a record high.
Whether in the Chinese market or the global market, Apple's competitiveness and attractiveness are still strong, and Cook's visit to China is also to consolidate and expand Apple's business and cooperation in China.
Cook wants to keep the CEO of Apple
This time in China, perhaps also due to Apple's sales pressure this year, Cook needs to prove his ability to operate to the board and keep the CEO position. Some time ago, the news that Cook was going to be kicked out of Apple's board was widely spread in the technology circle. Later, Apple held an online shareholder meeting, and under pressure from the board, Cook "voluntarily" reduced his annual salary by up to 40% to keep the CEO position.
That is, compared with the salary of 99.42 million US dollars (about 682 million yuan) in 2022, Cook's target total salary in 2023 is 49 million US dollars.
It can be seen that Apple's board of directors is not too satisfied with Cook's operation. It is reported that Apple has adjusted its products to comply with China's censorship and data storage laws, which has also been criticized in the United States.
Cook's pressure is that 2023 results may be difficult to meet expectations, and the performance of the Chinese market is a core part. In the first two years, Huawei faded out of the market, and Apple dominated the high-end market in the domestic market.
But now, Huawei in the mobile phone market has not been defeated, but has a momentum of recovery, Mate50 performance is good, Huawei P60 has also arrived, in addition, including Honor Magic5, Xiaomi 13Ultra, OPPO Find X6, vivo X9 and a series of domestic flagships are performing well, Cook knows that the Chinese market will face challenges again.
In addition, the current sales momentum of the iPhone 14 is not good, it seems that it is difficult to continue the rise of the iPhone 13 series. According to a report by Display Supply Chain Consultants, display orders for the iPhone 14 series fell 39% year-over-year compared to the same period last year. Display orders for the iPhone 14 series also fell 23% from March.
Jefferies analysts pointed out that for the new iPhone that has just been listed, Chinese consumers buy the iPhone 13 series in many more numbers than the 14 series.
The 2022 global sales top list released by CounterPoint Research also shows this, Apple's iPhone 13 with a 5.0% share (close to 28% of iPhone sales, accounting for a third of the proportion) to take the top spot, is the best-selling smartphone in 2022, while the iPhone 14 only with a 1.4% share, ranked seventh on the list.
The decline in orders for the iPhone 14 series is closely related to the lack of sales and the lack of innovation and improvement of the iPhone 14. Therefore, Cook knows that stabilizing sales in the Chinese market is crucial to the continued growth of the iPhone in the future, which is also very important to stabilize Cook's position on the board.
Apple expressed symbiosis, can fruit chain manufacturers breathe a sigh of relief?
The iPhone supply chain shift to India is the most concerned topic in the country. In the context of Sino-US competition, foreign media are also quite concerned about whether Apple will move the industrial chain out of the Chinese market. This may be something that fruit chain manufacturers are very concerned about and very worried about.
This may be an important reason for Cook's visit to China. After all, Apple's move over the past two years has been to diversify its supply chain and consider shifting production further to emerging economic centers such as India.
The Indian market is becoming more important to Apple, and this year it has become Apple's own sales area for the first time. However, the yield of parts produced by Indian factories is not as good as Apple expected, such as the yield of mobile phone shells produced by Indian company Tata Group is only about 50%, and Apple's expansion in India has also slowed down under a variety of factors.
Obviously, the Indian supply chain has not yet grown, the future problems of India-made iPhone quality control are a high probability event, the future Indian product problems, Apple may also need Chinese manufacturing to save the scene.
Therefore, Cook's visit to China is obviously to stabilize the hearts of Chinese people while transferring some supply chain links to India, and does not want Chinese consumers and supply chain manufacturers to change because of Apple's supply chain transfer. Apple's gesture is actually trying to send a signal, which is to show that Apple still values China, and is still focusing on China in the supply chain.
More than 90 percent of Apple's products are still manufactured and assembled in China, with Apple employing about 14,000 people in China and 1.5 million in its global supply chain, most of them in China.
From the perspective of foreign forecasts, the share of iPhone manufacturing in China has not decreased but increased. According to JPMorgan's forecast, the share of Chinese companies in Apple's iPhone manufacturing will even increase significantly by 2025, from about 7% in 2022 to 24%.
Bloomberg Intelligence's analysis also shows that by 2030, Apple may only move about 10% of iPhone manufacturing outside of China, and even if it actively acts, it is expected to transfer no more than 20% at most. Because China, as the iPhone manufacturing hub, can hardly find a place to replicate.
Judging from the forecasts of brokerages and analysts and the "symbiosis" statement of Cook's visit to China, China's fruit chain manufacturers can breathe a sigh of relief, because if Apple relocates its supply chain to India on a large scale, fruit chain manufacturers that are highly dependent on Apple may face a big crisis.
From the current point of view, Apple still states that it is betting on China, but also to stabilize the mentality of supply chain manufacturers, but from the future trend, the OEM manufacturing of Apple products will be a major trend in India, and fruit chain manufacturers may still need to consider putting eggs into multiple baskets, to have the ability to survive and consciousness after losing Apple orders.
Cook's high emotional intelligence and localized management ability are worth learning from domestic manufacturers
Cook has made Apple the most profitable company in the world, perfected Apple's supply chain and inventory mechanism to the extreme, pushed Apple's software ecology, chips and other high value-added products to the extreme, and at the same time, also achieved a new height in the sales growth and supply chain of the Chinese market.
Cook's visit to China can see Cook's art of balance, he carefully maintains the trade between China and the United States, in the sensitive period, catering to the consumer sentiment and policies of the Chinese market, expressing a position to form a bundle of interests with China's supply chain, saying that he wants to coexist symbiotically.
Whether it is the attitude towards the Chinese market, the attitude towards China's supply chain manufacturers and consumer market, Cook's posture of standing on China and stabilizing people's hearts has been consistent, and there are no major flaws in his words and deeds.
Compared with the past Google, Dell and other Silicon Valley giants at key times, Cook's high emotional intelligence is enough to make a number of Silicon Valley bigwigs shame, in the sensitive period of Sino-US trade, can not only please the Apple board, but also appease Chinese consumers, with super high emotional intelligence and localized management capabilities, a number of domestic manufacturers have encountered various difficulties in overseas operations in recent years, after reflection, it is time to learn from Mr. Cook.
Author: Wang Xinxi TMT Senior Reviewer This article is not reprinted without permission