In his second visit to China this year, Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Beijing officials and local partners as the company faces challenges with its launch of Apple intelligence and increased competition in the market.
China’s Minister of Industry and Information Technology met with the CEO in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss Apple’s development in China, network data security and cloud services, according to a ministry statement.
During the conversation, the ministry said Cook signaled Apple’s commitment to the country, promising to increase investment in the market and to grow alongside Chinese companies. He also met with the leaders of several local Chinese firms in the same day, including China Mobile Chairman Yang Jie, to discuss digital content and 5G product cooperation, according to local reports.
Ivan Lam, senior research analyst for Counterpoint Research, said the timing of the trip is significant, coming as local competitors are introducing updated operating systems that integrate AI and new flagship products.
“This trip seems notable now as the company could be looking to shore up collaboration with local players to launch Apple Intelligence in China,” Lam said.
Le Xuan Chiew, Canalys’ analyst focusing on Apple strategy research, said the roll out of Apple Intelligence in China was likely the main motivation for Cook’s trip, as well as to “bolster the importance of China to Apple’s global strategy.”
The timeline for the introduction of Apple Intelligence in China remains “uncertain” and will depend largely on regulatory approvals, which could explain some of the messaging focus of his China trip, Chiew said.
This could be a problem for the company as the lack of Apple Intelligence on Chinese devices is expected to weaken the motivation for users to upgrade to the iPhone 16, he added.
Apple Intelligence is the company’s artificial intelligence play, which aims to bring AI across its devices, with features such as an improved voice assistant and tools that automatically organize emails and transcribe and summarize audio recordings.
Cook often travels to China — Apple’s largest overseas market — to launch products and factories, visit suppliers and meet with local officials. During his visit in March, he had been in Shanghai for the opening of a new retail store. He also visited Chengdu this time last year as Apple faced lackluster demand in the world’s second largest economy.
During his current trip, Cook was photographed visiting the offices of the Chinese social media giant Weibo and meeting with its CEO in a post on his personal Weibo account. Weibo is one of the local app developers that has launched applications for Apple’s Vision Pro mixed reality headset, which was released in the Chinese market in June.
Apple successfully launched the iPhone 16, its latest model in the series, in China this September, and the new phones got off to a strong start. Sales were up 20% in the first three weeks since launch, compared to the 2023 model, according to data from research firm Counterpoint.
But despite the successful product launch, overall iPhone unit sales, including older models, were down 2% year-over-year in China during the three-week period.
Apple has faced dwindling market share in China amid increased competition with local players and an increasing preference among Chinese consumers to pick domestically made goods.
The company saw its market share in the second quarter fall 5.7% year-over-year, according to Counterpoint.
After it made a splash with a surprise 5G model last year, Huawei, one of Apple’s main competitors in China, launched competing handsets the same day the iPhone 16 went on sale.
“Huawei’s recent resurgence in the high-end market, driven by its in-house chips and HarmonyOS ecosystem, has intensified the competitive landscape, making it harder for Apple to maintain its leadership position,” said Canalys’s Chiew.
Apple’s Vision Pro could also face more competition in the market as Huawei is reportedly gearing up to launch its own competing headset as soon as next week.
The Trump administration has floated a plan to trim about $6 billion from the budget of NASA, while allocating $1 billion of remaining funds to Mars-focused initiatives, aligning with an ambition long held by Elon Musk and his rocket maker SpaceX.
A copy of the discretionary budget posted to the NASA website on Friday said that the change focuses NASA’s funding on “beating China back to the Moon and on putting the first human on Mars.”
NASA also said it will need to “streamline” its workforce, information technology services, NASA Center operations, facility maintenance, and construction and environmental compliance activities, and terminate multiple “unaffordable” missions, while reducing scientific missions for the sake of “fiscal responsibility.”
Janet Petro, NASA’s acting administrator, said in an agency-wide email on Friday that the proposed lean budget, which would cut about 25% of the space agency’s funding, “reflects the administration’s support for our mission and sets the stage for our next great achievements.”
Petro urged NASA employees to “persevere, stay resilient, and lean into the discipline it takes to do things that have never been done before — especially in a constrained environment,” according to the memo, which was obtained by CNBC. She acknowledged the budget would “require tough choices,” and that some of NASA’s “activities will wind down.”
The document on NASA’s website said it’s allocating more than $7 billion for moon exploration and “introducing $1 billion in new investments for Mars-focused programs.”
SpaceX, which is already among the largest NASA and Department of Defense contractors, has long sought to launch a manned mission to Mars. The company says on its website that its massive Starship rocket is designed to “carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”
Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has a central role in President Donald Trump’s administration, leading an effort to slash the size, spending and capacity of the federal government, and influencing regulatory changes through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Musk, who frequently makes aggressive and incorrect projections for his companies, said in 2020 that he was “highly confident” that SpaceX would land humans on Mars by 2026.
Petro highlighted in her memo that under the discretionary budget, NASA would retire the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft and Gateway programs.
It would also put an end to its green aviation spending and to its Mars Sample Return (MSR) Program, which sought to use rockets and robotic systems to “collect and send samples of Martian rocks, soils and atmosphere back to Earth for detailed chemical and physical analysis,” according to a website for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Some of the biggest reductions at NASA, should the budget get approved, would hit the space agency’s space science, Earth science and mission support divisions.
Petro didn’t name any specific aerospace and defense contractors in her agency-wide email. However SpaceX, ULA and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are positioned to continue to conduct launches in the absence of the SLS. Boeing is currently the prime contractor leading the SLS program.
“This is far from the first time NASA has been asked to adapt, and your ability to deliver, even under pressure, is what sets NASA apart,” she wrote.
President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA, tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, still has to be approved by the U.S. Senate. His nomination was advanced out of the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
Chinese bargain retailer Temu changed its business model in the U.S. as the Trump administration’s new rules on low-value shipments took effect Friday.
In recent days, Temu has abruptly shifted its website and app to only display listings for products shipped from U.S.-based warehouses. Items shipped directly from China, which previously blanketed the site, are now labeled as out of stock.
Temu made a name for itself in the U.S. as a destination for ultra-discounted items shipped direct from China, such as $5 sneakers and $1.50 garlic presses. It’s been able to keep prices low because of the so-called de minimis rule, which has allowed items worth $800 or less to enter the country duty-free since 2016.
The loophole expired Friday at 12:01 a.m. EDT as a result of an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in April. Trump briefly suspended the de minimis rule in February before reinstating the provision days later as customs officials struggled to process and collect tariffs on a mountain of low-value packages.
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The end of de minimis, as well as Trump’s new 145% tariffs on China, has forced Temu to raise prices, suspend its aggressive online advertising push and now alter the selection of goods available to American shoppers to circumvent higher levies.
A Temu spokesperson confirmed to CNBC that all sales in the U.S. are now handled by local sellers and said they are fulfilled “from within the country.” Temu said pricing for U.S. shoppers “remains unchanged.”
“Temu has been actively recruiting U.S. sellers to join the platform,” the spokesperson said. “The move is designed to help local merchants reach more customers and grow their businesses.”
Before the change, shoppers who attempted to purchase Temu products shipped from China were confronted with “import charges” of between 130% and 150%. The fees often cost more than the individual item and more than doubled the price of many orders.
Temu advertises that local products have “no import charges” and “no extra charges upon delivery.”
The company, which is owned by Chinese e-commerce giant PDD Holdings, has gradually built up its inventory in the U.S. over the past year in anticipation of escalating trade tensions and the removal of de minimis.
Shein, which has also benefited from the loophole, moved to raise prices last week. The fast-fashion retailer added a banner at checkout that says, “Tariffs are included in the price you pay. You’ll never have to pay extra at delivery.”
Many third-party sellers on Amazon rely on Chinese manufacturers to source or assemble their products. The company’s Temu competitor, called Amazon Haul, has relied on de minimis to ship products priced at $20 or less directly from China to the U.S.
Amazon said Tuesday following a dustup with the White House that had it considered showing tariff-related costs on Haul products ahead of the de minimis cutoff but that it has since scrapped those plans.
Prior to Trump’s second term in office, the Biden administration had also looked to curtail the provision. Critics of the de minimis provision argue that it harms American businesses and that it facilitates shipments of fentanyl and other illicit substances because, they say, the packages are less likely to be inspected by customs agents.
Jeff Bezos, founder and executive chairman of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, takes the stage during The New York Times’ annual DealBook Summit, at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City, Dec. 4, 2024.
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to sell up to 25 million shares in the company over the next year, according to a financial filing on Friday.
Bezos, who stepped down as CEO in 2021 but remains Amazon’s top shareholder, is selling the shares as part of a trading plan adopted on March 4, the filing states. The stake would be worth about $4.8 billion at the current price.
The disclosure follows Amazon’s first-quarter earnings report late Thursday. While profit and revenue topped estimates, the company’s forecast for operating income in the current quarter came in below Wall Street’s expectations.
The results show that Amazon is bracing for uncertainty related to President Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. The company landed in the crosshairs of the White House this week over a report that Amazon planned to show shoppers the cost of the tariffs. Trump personally called Bezos to complain, and Amazon clarified that no such change was coming.
Bezos previously offloaded about $13.5 billion worth of Amazon shares last year, marking his first sale of company stock since 2021.
Since handing over the Amazon CEO role to Andy Jassy, Bezos has spent more of his time on his space exploration company, Blue Origin, and his $10 billion climate and biodiversity fund. He’s used Amazon share sales to help fund Blue Origin, as well as the Day One Fund, which he launched in September 2018 to provide education in low-income communities and combat homelessness.