China set to take bigger bite into Apple

China is on track to one day become Apple’s biggest customer and new products by the tech firm may be launched there in future, chief executive Tim Cook said during a visit to the country last week.

“I would love that to happen. China is a very important marketplace for us,” Cook said in an interview with the official Xinhua news agency in Beijing. “China is currently our second largest market. I believe it will become our first. I believe strongly that it will.”

Apple has just 11 stores in China, in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Hong Kong. The one opened last October in the commercial hub of Wangfujing in Beijing is the largest in Asia.

“We are growing very fast,” Cook added. “We are continuing to invest in retail stores here and will open many more over the next several years. We have some great sites selected, our manufacturing base is here and we have incredible partners here. So it’s a very, very important country to us.”

That said, it has not all been plain sailing for Apple in China.

Apple supplier Foxconn has been accused of providing poor labour conditions for its workers. Cook said Apple had very strict codes of conduct for its suppliers.

“If they don’t, we won’t do business with them. We care very deeply about every worker that touches an Apple product, whether they are making it, selling it, serving it or marketing it.

“We hold ourselves to a very high standard there.”

During his visit, Cook met China Mobile chairman Xi Guohua in Beijing. China Mobile is the world’s largest mobile provider by subscriber. It currently does not offer the iPhone, which is sold by its competitor, China Unicom.

His visit included intensive meetings with government officials, business partners, Apple employees and customers, and it’s his second within a year.

In March, Cook visited Foxconn’s facilities in Zhengzhou and Tianjin as the supplier was under pressure over reports that it had violated several labour laws.