Skip to content

Apple Partners With Alibaba to Bring iPhone AI Features to China

Apple will partner with Alibaba to offer AI features in China, the Chinese company’s chairman said on Thursday, resolving months of speculation around Apple’s strategy in the region (via Reuters).

“They talked to a number of companies in China,” said Joe Tsai at the World Government Summit in Dubai. “In the end they chose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to power their phones. We feel extremely honoured to do business with a great company like Apple.”

Apple has not yet rolled out its full suite of AI features in China because of regulations that require it to partner with a local company. Apple devices outside of the country use a combination of proprietary Apple Intelligence and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to provide AI features. The Information reports that both Alibaba and Apple have already submitted materials to authorities for approval.

Today’s development follows news earlier in the week that Apple “passed over” the Chinese AI company DeepSeek, which recently made waves in the industry for being developed at a significantly lower cost than rivals.

This article, “Apple Partners With Alibaba to Bring iPhone AI Features to China” first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums