Apple and Samsung turn to Chinese AI partners to compete in the world’s biggest smartphone market

Apple is formalizing a strategic partnership with Alibaba Group to power key aspects of Apple Intelligence for users in mainland China. Alibaba’s Qwen model will manage server-side text generation, visual context queries, and more complex Siri processing. This setup mirrors Samsung’s existing arrangement, which has utilized Baidu’s Ernie model for Galaxy AI features like visual search, Bixby queries, and live call translation since the Galaxy S24 series.

These collaborations are reported to serve two primary strategic goals for foreign device makers. Firstly, they help meet Chinese regulatory requirements for generative AI services. Secondly, they foster closer integration with major local digital platforms such as Alipay, Taobao, and Baidu Maps, providing contextual usefulness that global models often struggle to deliver within China.

While these partnerships address immediate compliance and localization needs, industry observers note potential longer-term strategic implications. Relying on domestic Chinese large language models for core AI processing in such a significant market could create dependencies and potentially limit how these companies can differentiate their offerings as local AI capabilities advance. The full technical mechanisms for complying with Chinese content rules have not been publicly detailed, though filtering technology is indicated as part of the solution.