Roy Zipstein Apple is planning to expand its presence in China by opening up two more flagship stores, according to a new report.

Chinese government officials told Reuters that Apple has been approved to open up a new store in the city of Chengdu and is in the "final stages" of the approval process for a new store in the city of Shenzhen.

Neither of these cities currently has an Apple store. In fact, as Reuters points out, there are only five Apple stores in all of China at the moment.

China has already proven itself to be a huge source of growth for the company. Apple's sales in the country tripled between the first quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012. By making Apple products more readily available in other cities, Apple has the potential to boost sales even more.

The one complicating factor here is that Apple is still embroiled in a legal dispute in China over the rights to the iPad trademark.