Tim Cook Lands In China, Praises Tencent's 'Honor Of Kings' Game Amid Reports of iPhone 15 Sales Decline

Apple Inc. AAPL CEO Tim Cook praised Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s TCEHY popular game ‘Honor of Kings', on a surprise visit to China.

What Happened: Amid reports of declining iPhone 15 sales, Apple boss Cook has landed in China on an unannounced visit.

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Cook posted about his visit to an Apple Store where a gaming tournament was underway. He praised Tencent's ‘Honor of Kings' game and also posted a video on the Chinese social network Weibo.

“The action-packed Honor of Kings started here in Chengdu and is now a global phenomenon on the App Store," Cook said in his post.

"Thank you [to] TiMi Studio Group, and [to] all the talented gamers who were competing at Apple Taikoo Li Chengdu," he added, saying that the energy was "off the charts".

‘Honor of Kings' is one of the most popular games on the App Store. It earned a whopping $2.5 billion in 2020, making it the highest-grossing title on the App Store, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower.

Apart from the Apple Store, Cook also posted a few other photos, with a visit to the forests in the Sichuan province and another at an elementary school.

Why It Matters: Cook's surprise China visit comes at a time when sales of the iPhone 15 have reportedly declined in China, with some estimates pegging it as a "sharp double-digit" fall when compared to the iPhone 14 series.

The homegrown Huawei has also reportedly made a strong comeback thanks to interest in the Mate 60 Pro.

Earlier in September, reports suggested that Chinese government officials were banned from using iPhones at work, just days before the ‘Wonderlust' iPhone 15 launch.

While analysts believed that the concerns were "overblown", the sharp decline in iPhone 15 sales and now Cook's surprise visit to China suggests that there is some cause for concern for Apple.

Image Credits – Apple

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