Report: 5 New Apple Stores Expected in China Next Month

Apple is continuing to make more inroads into China, working as fast as it seemingly can to fulfill CEO Tim Cook's October pledge that the company would have 40 retail stores in the country within two years.

According to the latest reports, Apple is planning to open five new stores before Chinese New Year in mid-February. Four of these stores are going to be in areas where Apple has previously had no retail presence and, in total, the five stores will bring Apple's China count to 20.

As for Apple's interest in China, all one has to do is take a look at Apple's financials. According to Bloomberg, China contributed around $5.8 billion in sales for the three months ending Sept. 27 last year. That figure represented approximately 14 percent of Apple's total revenue for that time period. As CEO Cook explained to Bloomberg in October, he expects China to one day take over as Apple's largest market (for sales).

Apple also isn't saying where three of the five stores being built will actually be, according to China's state-run Xinhua news service. However, as the paper notes, a quick look at Apple's jobs site for China shows that Apple is currently hiring for retail positions in 15 places—and a number of them, like Anhui, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, and Shandong, don't currently have any Apple retail stores.

Here in the U.S., Apple is planning a new store in Brooklyn. Apple secured a long-term lease for a 20,000-square-foot retail space at 247 Bedford Ave., near North 3rd Street and just a few blocks away from the Bedford Avenue L trail stop. The new retail outlet will be Apple's seventh store in New York City, joining the five existing locations in Manhattan and one in Staten Island.