A U.S. Technology Website Reports
The Information, a U.S. website that offers in-depth technology stories, reported on Dec. 7 that Apple signed a US$275 billion secret contract with China five years ago for its business in China.
According to the report, CEO Tim Cook repeatedly visited China in 2016 in order to neutralize its regulations targeting Apple, and the company obtained deregulation by promising investment.
According to the contract, Apple is supposed to expand its partnerships with Chinese equipment suppliers, establish partnerships with Chinese software companies, cooperate with Chinese colleges, and make direct investments in Chinese tech firms. In return, China did not implement regulations targeting Apple Pay, iCloud and App Store.
The Information said that the initial contract was a five-year contract, and the contract was automatically extended by one year in May this year.
In China, Apple’s net profit amounted to US$14.6 billion in the third quarter of this year, up 83 percent from a year ago. The net profit in the market accounted for 71 percent of the company’s total net profit in that period. Last month, Apple’s smartphone sales in China increased 46 percent from the previous month.