SHANGHAI  Although Apple is widely admired in China, most fans of its products here have been buying their iPhones, iPods and Mac computers from smugglers who operate through underground electronics markets.

The company, which has been slow to cultivate the Chinese market, has relatively few sales outlets in the country and only one Apple Store  a modest branch in Beijing.

But with Apple set to open a flagship showroom on Saturday in Shanghai  one of its largest stores in Asia  the company is making a new push to tap into the world’s biggest mobile phone market and grab a bigger share of China’s fast-growing consumer electronics business.

Success is far from guaranteed, because the company will be going up against big, entrenched competitors in both the personal computer and mobile phone markets. And its newest, hottest products  the iPad and the iPhone 4  are not yet available in China, and the company has not announced when they will be.