What to Know About Apple and China

Apple has long centered its sales pitch on protecting its users’ data. But I had a hunch that it couldn’t be that simple in China, where the company is deeply entrenched. So I began investigating.

To understand Apple’s relationship with China, you should first know that Apple now assembles nearly all of its products in the country and sells $55 billion a year there.

Its Chinese supply chain is so large and complex that Apple has concluded it cannot replicate it elsewhere, according to current and former employees. That has left Apple stuck in China.

The relationship got trickier in 2013, when Xi Jinping became China’s new leader. He began leaning on Western companies in China to strengthen the Communist Party’s grip. Few were more vulnerable than Apple, and it was forced to make compromises.

Last month in Guizhou province, a building opened with the flags of Apple and China flying out front. Inside, Apple stores the emails, photos, documents and other data of its Chinese customers. The facility is owned and run by a Chinese state-owned company.

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