Cook said he spent the morning walking along Shanghai's historic Bund river with Chinese actor Zheng Kai and having a local breakfast but did not disclose what other plans he had for this China visit.

His visit comes after the iPhone maker announced that it would open a new retail store in the heart of the Chinese financial hub on Thursday, and as Apple battles falling iPhone sales in China and rising competition from domestic rivals such as Huawei.

Cook made at least two visits to China, Apple's third-largest market by revenue, last year. He also travelled to Beijing around the same time last year, where he visited an Apple store and attended the China Development Forum.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom and Brenda Goh in Shanghai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)