Chinese iPhones might not get a ChatGPT integration
ChatGPT is currently banned in China so Apple needs to look elsewhere.
When Apple announced that Apple Intelligence was coming, many anticipated it, looking forward to being able to use what they believed would be the best AI assistant ever. On the 28th of October, many finally got their hands on it, testing out its promised features from writing assistant to improved Siri experience.
But not every part of the world got the update. China, for one, has not gotten Apple Intelligence, and this was reportedly due to a regulatory requirement that mandates government approval for any AI service before it can be publicly released. The same policy applies to other AI services, like ChatGPT, which is also unavailable in the country.
Kelechi Edeh
While Apple could attempt to secure approval, a high-ranking Chinese official quoted in The Financial Times suggested that it would be a long and difficult process. Instead, the faster and easier route for Apple would be to partner with local tech giants.
Now, reports claim that Apple is in talks with two major Chinese tech companies, Tencent and TikTok founder, ByteDance, to integrate their AI models into iPhones sold in China.
Reports also claim that the discussions between these companies are still in the early stages, so there is still much room for imagination as to how this integration would work. Chinese iPhones could very well end up with Tencent's Hunyuan model or ByteDance's Doubao model, or maybe even give users the option to pick between both.
Kelechi Edeh
Doubao is huge in China, arguably the top AI chatbot in the country with 51 million monthly active users, according to South China Morning Post. Tencent on the other hand also claims its Hunyuan model is better than ChatGPT, especially in the Chinese space so there's little wonder why Apple would opt to partner with them.
That said, it might take a while before any changes reach iPhones in China. But, Apple will likely try to fast-track the process, especially with iPhones slowly losing the grip they used to have in China. According to a report from Techloy, the iPhone briefly dropped to sixth place in China’s smartphone rankings, with just a 14% market share. It has since climbed back to fifth, largely because Oppo dropped out of the top five. But the competition is fierce.
All top smartphones in China are now integrating AI, and the GenAI smartphone market is expected to dominate by 2028 per Techloy. For Apple, getting on board with AI in China sooner rather than later is crucial if it wants to stay competitive and maintain its over 15 billion dollars share in the market, according to Statista.
Emmanuel Oyedeji
