Apple Inc. has recently faced a series of calamities, first receiving a hefty fine in Europe, then getting entangled in antitrust legal issues upon returning to the United States. Years of investment in projects such as cars and LED screens were canceled one after another, leading to a successive drop in stock prices. Even Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, paid nearly 500 million dollars due to hiding the shrinkage of the Chinese market.
In times of turmoil for Apple's "empire", Cook and Apple finally turned their attention back to the Chinese market, which they had previously undervalued. Despite the differential treatment of consumers in China and the rise of domestic manufacturers making Apple's life difficult there, the vast Chinese market has compelled Cook to lower his head.
On March 24th of this year, Cook visited China again, aiming to salvage the dwindling domestic market. On March 12th, Cook announced plans to expand Apple's laboratory footprint in China, including the research center in Shanghai and the planned center in Shenzhen. Apple disclosed that they had allocated over one billion RMB for this expansion plan and were ready to increase their investment further.
However, expanding research centers apparently doesn't have a direct impact on most consumers. Therefore, Apple also announced that its headset product, Vision Pro, is set to officially enter the Chinese market in the middle of this year, although the exact date has not been revealed. They also mentioned that entering China was not a recent decision, as they had been going through the approval process since last year.
The Vision Pro was officially unveiled at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference in June last year, with a price tag of $3499. It officially hit the US market on February 2nd but was not launched in other markets. Some interested buyers might think that it will be cheaper to buy the Vision Pro when it arrives in China than to import it now, but due to factors like taxation, the price in China might actually be higher than the US version.
