Apple may join hands with Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to China

Apple Intelligence

Apple was rumored to be testing DeepSeek to bring its AI features to China. But now, it looks like Apple has dropped that plan and partnered with Alibaba instead, according to The Information.

Apple can’t use the same AI models in China as it does in other countries because of strict government rules. At first, it teamed up with Baidu, but their AI didn’t meet Apple’s standards. Then, Apple looked at other options, including Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba, and DeepSeek. In the end, it rejected DeepSeek due to a lack of experience and resources.

Now, Apple and Alibaba have sent their AI features for approval by China’s cyberspace regulator. This is an important step because iPhone sales dropped last quarter. The lack of AI features hurt sales, even though they were supposed to be a big selling point.

Apple is hoping for strong sales this quarter. It believes these AI tools will boost demand for iPhones in China.

One big reason Apple picked Alibaba is its huge amount of user data. The company knows a lot about people's shopping and payment habits. This data could help train AI models and offer better services.
So far, neither Apple nor Alibaba has made an official statement. But if these AI features get approved, they could help Apple win back customers in China.