It's not often corporate giants admit they may be arrogant and say sorry. But that's just what Apple has done. The firm was heavily criticised in Chinese state media for the way it treats its customers in the country. It's now issued an apology on its website. The BBC's business reporter in the United States Samira Hussain has been telling me what the company was accused of doing.

　　苹果向中国消费者道歉

　　Well, essentially the criticism is that Chinese customers are being treated differently when it comes to after service, so, once customers have purchased an Apple product. Now the complaints were against Apple's repairs policies in China that it would only replace faulty parts instead of providing customers with new phones, for example, as it does in other markets. Now much of that criticism came through Chinese media first on a show about consumer safety and rights. And then on its state newspaper and they had a few articles and editorials, again, criticising Apple's policies in China.

　　So it seems like Apple has perhaps given in to this pressure from the state media then. So what has the company said?

　　Well, that's exactly right. You know, initially Apple didn't respond to the criticisms. But now in a letter posted on the company's Chinese website, Apple's CEO Tim Cook has apologised to its customers in China. Now they haven't said they've done anything wrong. They're calling it a misunderstanding. But Tim Cook has said that he will do a better job of communicating with its customers in China.