Apple and its rivals in the Chinese smartphone market are in a heated race to adopt the country's fast-improving artificial intelligence (AI) models, including those from DeepSeek and Alibaba Group Holding.

Alibaba will partner with Apple to support iPhones' AI services offering in China, its chairman said on Thursday, a move likely to help the U.S. company ease falling smartphone sales in its key market.

Alibaba has announced that it is partnering with Apple to provide artificial intelligence features to iPhones in China. Apple Intelligence features have not yet been enabled in China, which is thought to have contributed to the company’s local decline in smartphone sales.