American tech behemoth Apple has announced that it will set two new research and development centres (R&D) in China as it grapples to revive its fortunes in the world's largest smart phone market, where its sales has taken a serious hit owing to ferocious competition from local rivals.

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The important announcement comes as Apple CEO Tim Cook is about to start his latest high profile visit to China later this week. The new R&D centres will be located in eastern cities of Shanghai and Suzhou, which will add up to Apple's two more R&D centres that are coming up in Beijing and Shenzhen cities.

The tech giant has pledged to invest more than 3.5 billion Yuan ($507.1 million) in these centres, according to a statement on company's official Chinese website. All the four centres are scheduled to open later this year.

Apple hopes that these R&D centres will help in attracting local talents from renowned Chinese universities, which it believes is immensely critical to cope with current cut-throat competition in the smartphone market.

Apple's China sales witnessed a great reversal in its fortune last year, when its annual Iphone shipments to China fell for the very first time. The slump in sales also affected its results, with Greater China revenues falling 12 percent in 2016 on a yearly basis.

The East Asian country holds key to American tech giant's ambition to maintain global domination in the smartphone market. However, if its sales continue to falter in the Chinese market, then investors will most certainly put more pressure on Apple's management to find innovative ways to lure back the Chinese consumers.

The loyalty of Chinese consumers over the years have steadily switched to host of home grown brands that offer high specifications at a bare minimum costs. The likes of Oppo, Vivo, Huawei and ZTE have made a huge splash in Chinese market in the last few years, making things difficult for Apple and Samsung.

Tagsapple, Apple China, china, Chinese smartphone market