In China, Apple’s fate rides on the 8

Eight is an auspicious number in China. It remains to be seen whether it will prove lucky for Apple. The latest iPhone, expected to be announced next week, is up against some attractive — and attractively-priced — local competitors, including Huawei (which recently passed Apple to become the world’s second-largest smartphone brand). As Bloomberg notes, Apple’s big challenge in China will be to win over consumers for whom the new bells and whistles Apple has included in its new phone are already old hat. With a new head of China officially on board, Apple hopes to deliver a very strong fourth quarter on sales of the iPhone 8. Factory owners are betting on good sales — and praying that the specs on the new phone are as rumoured: they’ve already begun production on aftermarket cases, sight unseen.

• Currency
  Investor who lost millions finally gives up on his China bet / Bloomberg
• Commodities
  Rare earth metals electrified by China’s illegal mining clean-up / Bloomberg
  Time to rethink Chinese oil demand? / MacroPolo
  Nickel prices leap to highest level in over two years / Bloomberg
  Gold extends rally to 11-month high after North Korea nuke test / Bloomberg
  Spiking cobalt prices set to drain high-tech battery-makers / Caixin
  Capacity cuts in China fuel a commodity rally and a debate / The Economist
• Robots
  China is poised to dominate robotics markets sooner than expected / ZDNet
• Facebook
  Facebook taps former Chinese official to woo Beijing on access / WSJ (paywall)
  Read more on The China Project: Facebook friends Shanghai, and awaits a reply
• Mobile phones
  Xiaomi nails staffers in supplier shakedown scheme / Caixin
  Brief: Xiaomi and Google launch their jointly developed Android One phone / TechinAsia
• WeChat
  WeChat launches ‘Top Topics’ feature similar to Weibo / TechNode