HONG KONG - Apple Inc’s chief executive Tim Cook said on Wednesday he sees Tencent Holdings, China’s biggest social network and gaming company, as a great partner and thinks very highly of its founder Pony Ma.

Cook also told the Fortune Forum in Guangzhou that he couldn’t be happier with how the iPhone X is doing in China.

READ: Apple ends 18-month China iPhone sales slump

China is Apple’s third-largest region by sales, but it has lost market share in recent years as consumers switch to local rivals.

Tencent is partly owned by South African media giant Naspers, which is Africa’s biggest satellite pay-TV provider.

READ: Naspers causes worst daily loss on JSE in two months

Naspers, which makes up one fourth of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange top 40, has piggybacked on Tencent to become Africa’s biggest company by market value and one of the world’s largest investors in e-commerce.

Reuters