Alibaba to partner with Apple on AI features

SHANGHAI, Feb 15 (Reuters): Alibaba will partner with Apple to support iPhones' AI services offering in China, its chairman said on Thursday, a move likely to help the US company ease falling smartphone sales in its key market.
For Alibaba, the partnership is a major win in China's competitive AI market that is home to DeepSeek, which made headlines this year with models developed at a fraction of the cost of Western rivals.
The landmark deal also resolves months of speculation over Apple's AI strategy in the region as the iPhone maker had been in talks with Chinese tech leaders including Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent, Reuters and the Information have reported.
"They talked to a number of companies in China. In the end they chose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to power their phones. We feel extremely honoured to do business with a great company like Apple," Tsai said at the World Government Summit in Dubai.
Apple continues to work with Baidu on AI features for iPhones in China, The Information reported on Thursday, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
Baidu did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. While Apple's phones outside China utilize a combination of its proprietary Apple Intelligence and OpenAI's ChatGPT, Tsai did not specify whether the Alibaba partnership would follow a similar model.