The artificial intelligence functions of the iPhone will be powered by Alibaba in China.

Alibaba has officially announced its partnership with Apple, aimed at integrating artificial intelligence features into iPhones intended for the Chinese market. So far, these Apple Intelligence features are not available in the country, which has been seen as a contributing factor to the decline in the company's smartphone sales in the region.

Joseph Tsai, President of Alibaba, stated that the company held discussions with several Chinese firms before deciding to collaborate with them: "In the end, they chose to do business with us. They want to use our artificial intelligence to enhance their phones. We feel extremely honored to collaborate with a great company like Apple."

However, this partnership does not dispel concerns about potential local partnerships Apple might establish to activate its AI features. Reports suggest that Apple evaluated models from companies like Tencent, ByteDance, and DeepSeek, and may still consider other partners. Additionally, the company continues to work with Baidu on an AI-powered search feature that will be able to handle images and text, as well as enhancements for the Chinese version of Siri.

Outside of China, Apple Intelligence combines Apple's proprietary technology with ChatGPT from OpenAI, which is also unavailable in this market. It has not been clarified whether they will adopt a similar approach for AI features in China, which could involve multiple partners to carry it out. It is important to highlight that any AI feature intended for consumers will require approval from regulatory authorities, and according to recent reports, Apple and Alibaba have already submitted the necessary documentation to the regulators.

iPhone sales have been declining in China, and in 2024, Apple lost its leading position in the smartphone market, falling to third place in the fourth quarter, surpassed by Huawei and Xiaomi. Analysts have repeatedly pointed out that the lack of AI features in iPhones in this market has impacted sales, and Apple is facing increasing pressure to regain lost ground.