Apple put a ring on it: Research facility shows serious commitment to China
A new US$45 million research facility in Beijing will develop deep tech in audio, visual and communications
If there were ever a year for Apple to look beyond China it would have been 2016. The company has dealt with regulatory headaches, political pushback and an apparent drag on Chinese consumer sentiment.
In April, Chinese authorities banned the company’s iBooks and iTunes Movie platforms. After the Hague ruling on the South China Sea, some Chinese smashed iPhones in an expression of nationalist anti-American sentiments.
As recently as last week, a hospital in Chongqing banned its employees from buying Apple products in a patriotic support of domestic companies.
On the flip side, the iPhone 7 is selling reasonably well in the country and proving doomsday media reports wrong.
This is all to set the scene for what may be Apple’s strongest commitment to the Chinese market to date — the opening of a US$45 million research center in Beijing, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
China has long played a huge role in the manufacturing of devices, but the company has always maintained that its heart — research and design — lie in Cupertino, California. Nothing better exemplifies this fact than the sentence that is written on every box of every Apple product sold.
Designed by Apple in California.
Once the new facility gets built, that will no longer be the case. According to the article, it will focus on hardware design and employ about 500 people who will work on developing deep tech innovations — including advancements in audio, video and communications.
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The facility will be Apple’s first in China and shows that Tim Cook is putting his money where his mouth is (after pledging more investment in the country last month).
Furthermore, this is not an ‘investment in China’ like Apple’s US$1 billion investment in Didi Chuxing. This is a serious corporate investment in which future technology, design and product will now be built in Beijing.
One metaphor keeps coming to mind: Apple has just gotten on one knee and put a ring on the finger of a long-term lover. Sure, there have been ups and downs, but China is so important to Apple that it is now time to make a commitment.
It should be noted that the wedding has not arrived. Things could go south, ala Google in 2010. But hey, it is a bit taboo to predict divorce before the marriage begins.
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If we can look ahead to a beautiful marriage, the Zhongguancun Science Park Administrative Committee, who publicly leaked the plans via social media, made a fascinating suggestion.
As Apple faces increased competition from Chinese phone makes like Xiaomi and Huawei, the research facility gives R&D a ‘boots on the ground’ view of the market. And maybe, the committee suggested, Apple could build phones better suited for a Chinese consumer.
Does this mean we see an iPhone China in the near future? I doubt even Apple knows the answer to that question.
To the point, the release of iPhone SE appeared to be an effort to better compete with less expensive competition (and Apple’s fiercest competition on this front is Chinese). However, at the end of the day, the SE still was still a traditional iPhone with no physical adjustments to how Chinese consumers use the product versus Americans.
The idea is nothing more than a suggestion, but it certainly gets the imagination going.
What is clear is that China is no longer a ‘market’, but rather a key contributor and stakeholder in the future of Apple products moving forward.
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Copyright: zhaojiankangphoto / 123RF Stock Photo
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