Apple has chosen Alibaba as its partner in bringing the Apple Intelligence platform to China.
This follows an examination by the tech company of potential partnerships with AI startup DeepSeek and ByteDance without deciding for either.
Apple had chosen Baidu as its priority for integrating Apple Intelligence in devices in China. However, due to the technicalities needed to adapt Baidu’s models into AI, the company decided to look for an alternative way and chose Alibaba.
The main concern for Apple is the absence of Apple Intelligence among many other issues. China is a significant part of Apple’s market, and this time could be majorly grave at this moment. Recently, Apple CEO Tim Cook himself confirmed that this has caused an 11% dip in iPhone sales in China due to the lack of this flagship AI feature.
Meanwhile, local players like Huawei have taken on this gap and are aggressively advancing their own AI-driven devices into market reach.
The market for AI in China is becoming fierce, particularly after the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, and has been highly hyped with local AI alternatives.
The elite “Six Tigers” leading bringing forward China’s AI developments include Stepfun, Zhipu, Minimax, Moonshot, 01.AI, and Baichuan, while emerging contenders like DeepSeek and ModelBest continue to make waves.
This announcement also comes just as the company is setting up for its newest model of the iPhone SE(4th Gen). The budget device is expected to be instrumental in driving sales in developing markets such as China and India, currently the most populous smartphone markets in the world. Thus, leveraging this partnership is expected to bring an upswing in Apple’s performance forward while reinvigorating its competitive edge in China.
Apple’s AI strategy has, so far, had a number of partnerships. In the U.S., for example, Apple has incorporated OpenAI’s ChatGPT to Siri as part of the rollout of Apple Intelligence. In further developments, Apple is also open to partner with other AI providers, including the likes of Google’s Gemini.
As Apple solidifies its AI stature in China, such collaboration with Alibaba could very well shape the future in which those powered by AI will interact with and through their iPhones.
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