Apple
has a China problem – we know that. The iPhone maker looks to be hoping that a greater retail presence in the country can help it out.
Apple
is preparing to open its eighth store in Shanghai this month. The company announced on its website that it would open the site in Jing’an, a central business district of the financial hub, on March 21.
China is a sore spot for Apple, which sold 24% fewer iPhones in the country in the first six weeks of 2024 than a year earlier, according to a recent report from Counterpoint Research. Sales by Chinese rival Huawei rose 64% for the same period.
A glitzy new store could be a welcome sign of confidence for Apple investors that the company thinks it still has a strong position in China but the pressure is still on for news on how artificial intelligence could boost the iPhone 16, expected later this year.
Apple shares were up 0.3% in premarket trading on Monday.
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Elon Musk Intensifies Spat With OpenAI
Elon Musk is still pursuing his attack on OpenAI for allegedly betraying its original mission to develop artificial intelligence for the good of humanity in exchange for
Microsoft
‘s backing.
Musk’s latest tactic is to promise that his xAI start-up will make its Grok chatbot open source this week, in a post on social-media platform X. Exactly what that means is yet to be seen, but it should indicate at least partially sharing its code with the public.
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Grok hasn’t made much of an impact in the chatbot wars since its introduction late last year for premium subscribers to X. However, Musk looks to be keen to sharpen its appeal against OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and providing more transparency to developers and users could be one way to make an impression on the market.
Write to Adam Clark at adam.clark@barrons.com
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