Apple names new China head, but will it matter?

Isabel Ge Mahe 葛越 has been named the VP and managing director of the Greater China region for Apple, Recode reports. The technology website notes that Apple in China “has recently stumbled,” with its revenue there “declining to $46 billion in 2016 and shrinking on a year-over-year basis for the past five reported quarters.”

The New York Times adds (paywall) that hers may be the one of the “toughest jobs in tech,” as Apple struggles to compete with a “range of domestic competitors putting out ever-cheaper, high-performing smartphones.”

Apple is already trying something new in the country: a “full-blown promotional campaign…up to 50% discounts when customers choose to pay with the company’s Apple Pay service,” according to Caixin.

• U.S.-China trade
  Top Chinese and U.S. executives make urgent call to avoid trade war / SCMP
  China and the U.S. are both going for trade’s nuclear option / Washington Post
  Expect more process than progress at U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue / Brookings
  Editorial: Washington needs to take a fair look at Sino-U.S. trade / Global Times
  Chinese vice premier urges U.S. to ease export barriers against China / People’s Daily
• Environment
  China says it won’t take any more foreign garbage / Reuters
  China’s clean energy powers up / Caixin
  “Nuclear, wind, solar and hydropower accounted for 27.2% of China’s total electricity-production mix in the first six months of the year…up 1.8 percentage points” from a year ago.
• Africa
  China is training Africa’s next generation of transport and aviation experts / Quartz