Apple is reportedly in discussions with Tencent and ByteDance to introduce iPhone AI features in China
Apple is reportedly in discussions with Tencent and ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, to incorporate their artificial intelligence models into iPhones sold in China, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, Apple began rolling out OpenAI’s ChatGPT on its devices as part of its Apple Intelligence product, enabling Siri to leverage the chatbot’s capabilities for tasks such as answering user queries related to photos and documents like presentations.
Since ChatGPT is unavailable in China, and the country’s regulations require generative AI services to obtain government approval before public release, Apple is seeking local partners to provide AI features, especially as its market share in China continues to decline.
According to sources, Apple’s talks with Tencent and ByteDance regarding the use of their AI models are still in the early stages. The sources, who wished to remain anonymous due to the private nature of the discussions, stated that the talks have not been made public.
ByteDance declined to comment, and Apple and Tencent did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
If Apple successfully partners with a local AI provider in China, it could become a significant player in the country’s competitive AI landscape, where numerous large language models have already been launched by major tech companies and startups.
Apple and Baidu have reportedly been in discussions about integrating Baidu’s AI model into iPhones in China. However, according to a report from The Information this month, the talks encountered setbacks due to technical challenges, including disagreements over the use of iPhone user data to train the AI models.
The lack of AI capabilities in the latest iPhones sold in China has become a significant setback for Apple, which is experiencing a decline in market share in the world’s largest smartphone market, driven by increasing competition from domestic brands like Huawei.
Huawei, which re-entered the high-end market in August with a phone featuring a Chinese-made chip, launched its Mate 70 series last month, which includes AI features powered by its proprietary large language model. Apple briefly dropped out of China’s top five smartphone vendors in the second quarter but recovered in the third quarter. Despite this, Apple’s smartphone sales in China still fell 0.3% year-over-year in the third quarter, while Huawei’s sales surged 42%, according to research firm IDC.
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