Tim Cook’s China Visit: 5G Collaborations, Apple AI’s Entry into China, and More

On October 22, China Mobile Chairman Yang Jie met with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Beijing to discuss topics such as digital content and 5G product collaborations. Both parties acknowledged their successful outcomes in digital content cooperation, launching high-quality products and services based on music and video. They expressed their anticipation to strengthen collaboration in product and content innovation, focusing on 5G features like messaging, 5G new calls, XR immersive content, among other 5G characteristic applications to lead customer demands, enhance user experience, and achieve mutual benefits.

Over the years, China Mobile and Apple have been actively exploring new collaborative directions while jointly providing terminal product sales and services to users. The “Migu Video Vision Edition,” as one of the first application products to debut Apple Vision Pro in the Chinese market, pioneered an immersive space viewing experience globally during the Paris Olympics. It was noted that both parties have also reached agreements on music rights, allowing users to access Apple Music content through China Mobile channels.

In the future, they plan to further enhance cooperation in the fields of music and VR videos. On one hand, they aim to deepen music copyright content and music rights cooperation, along with conducting joint marketing and operations. On the other hand, they will comprehensively engage in Apple Vision Pro immersive content collaboration, jointly exploring production technologies for immersive videos and the development of interactive applications to build content and ecosystems.

On October 23, Cook also visited Sina Weibo. He shared his feelings about the trip on the platform, expressing gratitude to Wang Gaofei and the team for showcasing the creativity behind Weibo’s achievements and how they integrate the latest technological innovations of the iPhone camera.

During his visit to Sina Weibo, a journalist asked Cook about the timing of Apple Intelligence entering China. Cook said that they are working diligently on advancing this, emphasizing the specific regulatory process behind it and their hope to bring Apple Intelligence to Chinese consumers as soon as possible. Apple China did not provide a detailed timetable for the entry of Apple Intelligence into China in response to queries. Industry experts commented that Apple’s efforts to promote AI products in China are noteworthy, with potential technological resistance from the US side, possibly due to reluctance in bringing core key technologies to China. However, they believe that Apple is eager to drive application-level advancements and build the entire AI ecosystem.

Cook’s last visit to China was in March of this year, during which he underscored the importance of the Chinese supply chain and visited several Chinese supply chain companies. During that trip, Cook also unveiled the Apple Shanghai Jing’an flagship store. Despite Cook’s consistent efforts to engage with China, Apple continues to face declining iPhone sales in the country. To attract more consumers in the competitive market this year, Apple has implemented multiple subsidy and price reduction measures. During this year’s “Double Eleven” shopping festival, the official Apple flagship store offered comprehensive discount policies for the entire new iPhone 16 series, with discounts of up to 1600 yuan.

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