Patrick McGee

Apple in China: Patrick McGee Unpacks a High-Stakes Global Story TOI Bookmark · Episode

*New* podcast about APPLE IN CHINA with Jaya Bhattacharji Rose for the The Times Of India:

open.spotify.com/episode/0A1o...

@jbhattacharjirose.bsky.social

Yeah I think that’s fair

China book recommendations for summer and fall according to
Table.Briefings: new work by @evadou.bsky.social,
@patrickmcgee.bsky.social, my own "The Party's Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping," and others

table.media/en/china/fea...

Time is running out for Tim Cook

Read the whole essay here:

unherd.com/2025/08/time...

And, of course, much more in my book: AppleInChina.com

So it’s disconcerting that 15 months after the announcement, a personalised Siri still doesn’t exist, the ads promoting it have been pulled, and Apple has been forced to acknowledge it doesn’t know when the features might be ready.

If Apple can make it work, it could offer 1.5bn users a compelling reason to upgrade their device every 24 months, as on-device chipsets improve.

That would justify Apple’s high valuation. But, says Craig Moffett, “that whole logic disappears if Apple ends up capitulating to a cloud-based model”.

When Cook unveiled “Apple Intelligence” last year, the promise was an assistant that could mine texts and emails to deliver personalised answers — not by taking data from the cloud, but mining for data “on device”. That’s something ChatGPT can’t do on the iPhone, because apps are sandboxed.

Apple’s AI missteps are the most glaring.

Siri, once a pioneer among voice assistants, now feels “as dumb as a rock”, to quote Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.

Apple killed its decade-long electric car project just as Chinese rivals Huawei and Xiaomi expanded their own. Apple’s only meaningful new product this decade is the Vision Pro, a tech marvel lacking content. Apple has superb tech capabilities, held back by a lack of strategic vision.

Today the tired criticism resonates.

Cook achieved growth, but innovation has tanked.

The iPhone’s design has barely changed since 2019, when Jony Ive departed as design chief (a position that remains vacant).

Fringe murmurings that Cook might no longer be the right CEO have moved from fringe Internet forums to investment bank notes and news segments on CNBC and Bloomberg TV.

Their main criticism — that Cook isn’t a product visionary — has always rung hollow; his mandate was always to scale

Apple’s market valuation is still enormous, at $3.1 trillion, but it has inched up less than 5% in three-and-a-half years.

But Apple has since stagnated: Annual revenue growth in the past three fiscal years averaged just 2.3%, versus 11% to 14% for Alphabet, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, 24% at Tesla, and 80% at Nvidia.

The idea that Cook, who was appointed CEO in 2011, might step down was anathema in January 2022, when Apple first reached a $3 trillion market valuation. Profits during his tenure had soared 3.7 times and shareholder returns had increased twentyfold.

They could also highlight Cook’s statesmanship.

Trump, in 2016, said he’d force Apple to build products in the US and once urged his supporters to boycott Apple. But Cook gained his ear, achieved important tariff exemptions, and avoided backlash from Beijing even after Washington attacked Huawei.

Supporters of Cook, when challenged, used to be able to point to Apple’s unmatched supply chain, the success of the Apple Watch and AirPods, and the enduring dominance of the iPhone.

Meta shares just hit an all-time high as the company talks up “Superintelligence.” And Nvidia, the chipmaker powering the AI boom, is sprinting so fast it’s now worth $1.2 trillion more than Apple.

The bear now has a name — artificial intelligence — and it is defining the next computing era. Microsoft, mocked in Apple’s “Get a Mac” ads, now leads in valuation, profitability, and product vision. Alphabet has pulled ahead in earnings.

If you and a friend are being chased by a bear, you don’t need to outrun the bear — you just need to outrun your friend.

In 2017, Apple’s former head of software used the metaphor to defend Tim Cook.

Innovation was slowing, he acknowledged, but “they are staying ahead of the competition.”

Today marks a milestone: Tim Cook is now Apple’s longest running CEO.

Steve Jobs: Sept 16, 1997 to Aug 24, 2011: 5,090 days

Tim Cook: August 24, 2011, to Aug 1, 2025: 5,091 days

Is his time up? A thread 🧵

Live on @npr.org On Point in 1min to discuss APPLE IN CHINA @wbur.org

How how how did we get here? 🙆🏻‍♀️

What we’re reading: Rest of World’s summer book list Spanning subjects from Apple to Nvidia to OpenAI, here are six compelling books on technology, tech leaders, and the promise and perils of artificial intelligence.

Need a good summer read to catch up on the world of tech? Check out these six books on Meta, Nvidia, Apple, OpenAI, Huawei, and the AI Con by
@karenhao.bsky.social @patrickmcgee.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social @emilybender.bsky.social and more.
restofworld.org/2025/summer-...

You’ll love this:

Finished Apple in China by @patrickmcgee.bsky.social rickmcgee.bsky.social. Way better book than I expected. If you’re interested in Apple, I’d actually recommend reading this before Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. #Apple #China #AAPL

Apple in China - by Patrick McGee The first major history of Apple in the 21st century—from near-bankruptcy to world's largest company. Apple in China is the untold story of how the tech giant tied its fortunes to America's biggest...

Just finished Apple in China by @patrickmcgee.bsky.social. If you care about global technology, politics, or economics, you need to read this book. appleinchina.com

🚨 New #TradeSplaining Ep. 🚨

🔗Listen now: cutt.ly/uYrtW1Z

We talk the new-ish trade policy, #AI , #Switzerland's 1,000-page EU deal..and sausage espionage

@patrickmcgee.bsky.social of the @financialtimes.com also joins us to talk about his eye-opening new book "Apple in China"

#ListenResponsibly

I listened on Audible and noticed some recording imperfections but nothing out of the ordinary. I wasn’t involved in the audio so I have no real insight there (but I don’t believe AI was involved)

Hope you’re still able to enjoy it!

Audio on. Mind blowing praise from the tech sector’s best analyst, Ben Thompson of Stratechery

@patrickmcgee.bsky.social Book #AppleInChina is phenomenal. It’s a must-read. It is one of the rare books where I bought the ebook, audiobook, & after finishing it, the hardcover. I’ve gone digital, but this book is so good it’s getting space on the physical bookshelves in my home. Bravo, Patrick!