$Apple(AAPL.US)It's a foregone conclusion that the shipment expectations for this year's new products (if they can even be called new) will be revised downward. AI won't perform well in the next two major iOS versions either. 2024-2025 will be a period where this company is relentlessly pursued by Chinese competitors, and it seems they don't have any better strategies to counterattack.

I don't believe Apple's foldable phone will make much difference. After all, competitors have already gone through three or four generations of iterations. Can a newcomer really revolutionize the hinge design? In this regard, I think keeping their R&D center in the U.S. is not a wise choice. Their latest products have almost no market share in the U.S., so how can they gain user insights? Eventually, they'll just fall back on trivial, non-essential selling points like the sound of turning off the screen, whether it has that 'Apple fragrance' when booting up, or whether the hinge leaves no crease—all of which spell failure.

Embracing China in product R&D won't hurt. Really.