Exclusion of Apple Intelligence from China market may weigh on iPhone sales, say analysts
- Netizens on Chinese social media service Weibo are taking a wait-and-see approach, with many searching for ways to bypass Apple’s restrictions
The exclusion of the much-anticipated Apple Intelligence suite from China’s market could weigh on iPhone sales in the country, analysts said, especially after the US tech giant dropped out of the mainland’s top-five smartphone brand list in the second quarter.
Following the debut of Apple Intelligence’s beta version on its newly released iOS 18.1, Chinese users expressed disappointment that the highly anticipated suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features is not yet available in their market. The beta version is limited to American users as it requires them to set the language of the device and voice assistant Siri to US English, and the device region to the US, which excludes China and the EU.
Netizens on Chinese social media platform Weibo are taking a wait-and-see approach, with many searching for ways to bypass Apple’s restrictions. One Chinese user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote on Tuesday that it won’t be necessary to have the “fear of missing out” as everyone “inside the Great Firewall … is subject to this kind of experience downgrade”.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about its plans to launch Apple Intelligence in China.
