Apple and its competitors in the Chinese smartphone market are currently actively fighting for the fastest possible adoption of rapidly improving artificial intelligence models in the Asian country, including from local developers of digital intelligence systems such as DeepSeek and Alibaba Group Holding.
The media published information according to which the mentioned company, based in the United States, has signed a deal to use Qwen AI models. This digital product was developed by Alibaba. The specified artificial intelligence models will be used for Apple Intelligence in mainland China. The relevant information was published by the media with reference to insiders.
It is worth noting that Apple Intelligence is currently supported by OpenAI’s ChatGPT in most international markets. At the same time, China’s technological space, which also has a digital dimension, provides for special rules. In the context of the adoption of artificial intelligence, the mentioned circumstance means that in an Asian country, it is allowed to use only those AI models that have been previously approved by the government. For this reason, Apple had to look for a partner to launch digital intelligence technologies in its virtual ecosystem in China. The relevant process lasted several months. Now, according to media reports, Apple may launch artificial intelligence features on its devices in China. It is worth noting that in the Asian country, competitors of the iPhone developer have already presented their functional solutions powered by AI. In this case, it means digital products from Chinese companies.
For the Asian country’s artificial intelligence industry, the beginning of the current year turned out to be more than optimistic and contained sufficient arguments in favor of statements about further positive prospects. In the relevant context, this refers to the AI models developed by DeepSeek that have become a sensation on the global market. Against the background of this success, there is an intensification of Chinese handset brands for artificial intelligence upgrades.
It is worth noting that the machine intelligence industry is gradually becoming one of the dimensions of geopolitical rivalry. In the framework of the relevant process, the main opponents are the United States and China. Artificial intelligence as a technology has already demonstrated impressive capabilities related to processing huge amounts of information, including in the context of an analytical approach to these actions, and generating original content. Moreover, AI has significant potential. The most ambitious futurological forecasts envisage that artificial intelligence, in the course of its technological evolution, will reach a level of development that will surpass the human mind in terms of cognitive abilities. Besides, AI may become a new means of production, which will have fundamental and structural consequences for the economy. Artificial intelligence can also be used in defense technologies. Against this background, the maximum probability is that in the foreseeable future, the level of development of the machine intelligence industry will determine the economic opportunities of countries and their positions in the international political arena. The relevant perspectives fully explain what can be described as a kind of geopolitical race for artificial intelligence. At the same time, the development of AI requires significant financial injections and a high level of technological infrastructure development. For this reason, not every country has the opportunity to fully participate in the artificial intelligence race. However, this does not apply to the United States and China. It is also worth mentioning that DeepSeek spent less than $6 million on the development of its globally popular AI models. This amount is minimal in terms of the average similar indicators typical for the artificial intelligence industry. The success of DeepSeek has raised doubts about the need for huge investments in the development of machine intelligence systems. At the same time, it is worth noting that in this case there is a single example of how the maximum result was achieved in the area of artificial intelligence at minimal cost. So far, such a strategy of action has not become a generally accepted practice and there is no guarantee that the corresponding transformation will ever occur. The success of DeepSeek has also challenged the dominance of the United States in the global artificial intelligence industry and has become evidence of China’s high level of competitiveness in this technological environment.
This month, Huawei Technologies, one of the leaders in the Chinese smartphone market, announced that it uses the DeepSeek-R1 model to support Xiaoyi, an AI assistant. The mentioned model is being leveraged in the latest version of the HarmonyOS Next mobile operating system.
Also this month, another Chinese smartphone manufacturer Oppo announced that it was integrating the R1 into its new foldable phone Find N5. Other smartphone makers from the Asian country are also using a virtual product from DeepSeek. Honor leverages R1 to upgrade its artificial intelligence agent Yoyo. Vivo, which became the largest Chinese smartphone manufacturer in terms of shipments last year, said its smartphone assistant app would incorporate functions backed by the mentioned AI model, such as text creation.
China’s Xiaomi technology giant, which among other things develops mobile phones, has not yet announced any plans to integrate the R1 into its devices. It is worth noting that this company works with Google. The relevant cooperation is focused on integrating the artificial intelligence model Gemini into Xiaomi’s flagship smartphones in international markets.
Currently, advanced digital intelligence technologies are expected to increase competition in the Chinese smartphone market. Nowadays, this market is gradually recovering after a two-year downturn. Data from Canalys research company shows that shipments grew by 4% last year, to 285 million units.
Recently, Apple has been facing increased competition from Chinese smartphone manufacturers in the corresponding Asian country market. In this context, the main factor of pressure on the iPhone developer was the significant strengthening of Huawei’s position. Last year, Apple lost its leadership in the Chinese smartphone market. Currently, the company ranks third in the ranking of the most popular mobile phone brands in the Asian country. Apple’s smartphone sales in China fell by 17% last year.
The adoption of artificial intelligence models from DeepSeek by Chinese smartphone manufacturers highlights the growing popularity of this startup. Information is actively circulating that such digital products of the mentioned startup as the latest large language model V3 and the R1 reasoning model have achieved performance comparable to models from leading Western AI developers. As above mentioned, this result has become a fact of reality with minimal costs.
It is worth noting that the largest Chinese technology companies have rushed to adopt artificial intelligence models from DeepSeek. In this case, it means companies, including major cloud service providers, chip developers, manufacturers of personal computers, and electric vehicles. The mentioned firms include Alibaba, Baidu, and Tencent Holdings. These companies worked overtime during the Lunar New Year holidays to support new artificial intelligence models from DeepSeek on their platforms.
China’s three major telecom network operators, including China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, have also integrated AI models from the mentioned startup into their cloud services.
The artificial intelligence industry is currently on an active development trajectory. This means a high degree of process intensity in the appropriate technological environment. For companies developing artificial intelligence systems, this circumstance signals that any success will be challenged by competitors as soon as possible.
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