Apple and Baidu are working to add artificial intelligence features to iPhones sold in China, but face obstacles that could hurt the tech giant’s phone sales in the country, The Information reported Wednesday.
Companies adapting Baidu’s large language models for iPhone users face issues such as LLMs understanding prompts and providing accurate responses to common scenarios, the report said.
Apple and Baidu did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
iPhone sales in China fell 0.3%, while rival Huawei posted a 42% rise in sales in the third quarter, research firm IDC said in October, as competition s is intensifying in the world’s largest smartphone market.
The long-awaited launch of Apple’s iPhone 16 in September was met with scorn in China due to the lack of artificial intelligence features.
Additionally, Apple’s privacy policies do not allow the collection of data from iPhone users who make AI-related queries, but Baidu wants to save and analyze this data, according to the report.
Baidu’s most advanced model, Ernie 4.0, is used as the basis for Apple’s genAI services on the iPhone, Mac and iPad, The Information said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Siri will also use Baidu’s AI models, according to the report.
