Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker’s generative AI offering, is coming to China. On Wednesday, Reuters reported that China’s regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, approved Apple’s AI services in the country, on the back of a deal to integrate Alibaba’s Qwen AI model into Apple’s operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS.
On Wednesday evening, a Baidu spokesperson reached out to TechCrunch to confirm that it is also working with Apple on Apple Intelligence features for Chinese iPhone users.
The deal, which was rumored to be in the works last year, marks an important step for Apple’s AI ambitions in a key market. In the second quarter, Apple sales in Greater China increased 28% to $20.5 billion. Apple also recently regained the No. 2 position in China’s smartphone market after a recent shopping festival offered discounts on the iPhone lineup.
Apple was rumored to be exploring a deal with Baidu, but reports at the time claimed it had faced issues adapting its models for Chinese customers. Given Baidu’s statement, it appears the partnership continues. Apple also explored integrations with DeepSeek and with models from ByteDance, reports claimed. This led to delays in getting Apple Intelligence features, which debuted in 2024, to the Chinese market.
Alibaba earlier confirmed the company’s news to CNBC in a statement, saying that Qwen would be “integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences,” but did not provide a timeframe. It also said the integrations would involve AI capabilities like “text and image understanding and generation.”
The original version of this article was published on July 15. The article was updated Thursday, July 16, with the statement from Baidu.
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