The iPhone maker’s generic AI offering, Apple Intelligence, is coming to China. On Wednesday, Reuters informed China’s regulator, the Cybersecurity Administration of China, has approved Apple’s AI services in the country based on a deal to integrate Alibaba’s Quon AI models into Apple’s operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS and VisionOS.
the deal, which was Rumor has it that work is underway The past year has been a significant step forward for Apple’s AI ambitions in key markets. In the second quarter, Apple’s sales in Greater China 28% increase Up to $20.5 billion. Apple also recently ranked number 2 again Discounts were offered on the iPhone lineup in China’s smartphone market following a recent shopping festival.
Before working with Alibaba, Apple was reportedly exploring a deal with Baidu, but faced problems customizing its models for Chinese customers. The report claims that it also discovered integration with models from DeepSeek and ByteDance. This led to a delay in bringing Apple Intelligence features, which were scheduled to debut in 2024, to the Chinese market.
alibaba Confirmed The company said in a statement to CNBC that Quen “will be integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences”, but did not give a timeframe. It also said that the integration would include AI capabilities such as “text and image understanding and generation”.
Alibaba’s US shares rose 4% in pre-market trading on news of the deal, and are now up more than 6% at the time of publication.
