According to a report by market research firm Canalys, 43% of Chinese consumers expressed high to very high interest in artificial intelligence (AI) smartphones. Of these, 71% are willing to pay more for AI features, which bodes well for Apple to improve iPhone sales in the near future.
However, Apple faces several regulatory challenges before bringing Apple Intelligence to the country of a billion people. Canalys said that all AI-integrated phones sold in the mainland market must use a commercial large language model (LLM) approved by the government . According to CNN, as of March 2024, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) had approved more than 100 AI models from Chinese companies.
According to WSJ , Apple is urgently looking for a Chinese AI company to replace OpenAI before the iPhone launches in September this year but has not yet reached an agreement.
ChatGPT is banned in China
Nabila Popal, senior director at research firm IDC, stressed that Chinese consumers would be reluctant to spend more than $1,000 on high-end smartphones if they did not have AI built in. Previously, in January 2024, rival Samsung announced a partnership with Baidu to integrate the Ernie chatbot into the Galaxy S24 series of phones for the Chinese market. However, Baidu's AI performance has not impressed users.
Plans to add AI features to iOS 18 are getting mixed reactions in China.
App development studio executive Li An hailed Apple’s AI integration as a big and positive move for iOS app developers in China, and believes the update will keep iPhone users in the Apple ecosystem.
In contrast, many Chinese people feel disappointed that Apple Intelligence only works on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPads, and Macs equipped with M1 chips or later. Meizu smartphone co-founder Li Nan expressed disappointment with Apple Intelligence for its lack of innovation. He felt that Apple simply copied from others and integrated large language models that were already available, while some cheaper Chinese devices also have similar AI features.
In addition, Apple also faces fierce competition from domestic smartphone manufacturers. Since the beginning of this year, Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo and Huawei have continuously added AI to their devices to help users compose text, edit photos, answer calls and take notes.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/apple-intelligence-gap-tro-ngai-tai-trung-quoc-185240622195631637.htm
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