Apple (APPL) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Cook has made a surprise visit to China amid reports that the company’s new iPhone 15 is selling poorly in the nation of 1.4 billion people.
Cook was photographed cheering on gamers at an Apple store in Chengdu, China, and he posted to social media a video of himself at a video game tournament in the country.
The Apple CEO’s visit to the company’s third-largest market comes less than a month after the iPhone 15 went on sale and amid reports that it is not selling well within China and losing ground to smartphones made by domestic Chinese firm Huawei.
Counterpoint Research recently issued an analysis showing that iPhone 15 sales in China are 4.5% lower than its predecessor, last year’s iPhone 14.
In September of this year, Huawei launched a smartphone containing a high-end semiconductor and 5G connectivity that has been selling well.
Huawei is the biggest domestic smartphone maker in China and Apple’s chief rival in the Asian nation.
Analysts at Jefferies have just published a new report that says Huawei has become the top smartphone maker in China, surpassing Apple and sales of the iPhone.
According to Jeffries, Apple faces poor consumer sentiment and rising competition in China’s high-end smartphone market.
Apple has also gotten caught up in geopolitical tensions between Washington, D.C. and Beijing, with the Chinese government reportedly banning civil servants from using iPhones at work.
The stock of Apple has gained 25% over the past 12 months and currently trades at $178.72 U.S. per share.
