CEO Tim Cook attributed the recent 11% drop in iPhone sales in China to the lack of Apple Intelligence, while local competitors like Huawei moved quickly to fill the gap. In its search for a local AI partner, Apple considered startups such as DeepSeek and ByteDance but ultimately chose Alibaba.

Apple sales have been struggling in China–iPhone revenue slumped 25% there in the fourth quarter–as the trade wars between the two biggest economies heated up.

Apple has reportedly partnered with Alibaba to bring AI features to the iPhone in China iPhone sales have slipped in China due to a lack of AI features Alibaba’s vast consumer data and AI expertise make it an ideal partner for Apple's plans for China DeepSeek has been at the center of frenzied interest in Chinese AI developers;