Apple chief executive Tim Cook told China's vice premier Zhang Gaoli of the plans in a meeting this week, CCTV said.
"We look forward to expanding our operations in China with a new research and development centre as we continue to grow our talented team here," Apple told the Financial Times.
"The centre will open later this year, bringing together our engineering and operations teams in China as we develop advanced technologies and services for our products, both for our customers in China and around the world," Apple said.
Apple's third quarter results, released last month, showed revenue from greater China down 33% year on year, compared to a 20% drop in the rest of Asia Pacific except Japan, 11% in the Americas and 7% in Europe. Japan was the only country where Apple saw revenue growth, of 23%.
Apple also announced this week that a major glass supplier in China has committed to run its Apple operations entirely on renewable energy by the end of 2018.
Lens Technology has negotiated a purchase agreement with local wind companies to allow it to make the promise, Apple said.
All 14 of Apple's final assembly sites in China are now compliant with Underwriters Laboratories’ (UL) Zero Waste to Landfill validation, Apple said.
The UL standard certifies that all manufacturing waste is reused, recycled, composted, or converted into energy. Since the program began in January 2015 the sites have diverted more than 140,000 metric tons of waste from landfills, Apple said.
