Apple sales have been struggling in China—iPhone revenue slumped 25% there in the fourth quarter—as the trade wars between the two biggest economies heated up.

CEO Tim Cook attributed the recent 11% drop in iPhone sales in China to the lack of Apple Intelligence, while local competitors like Huawei moved quickly to fill the gap. In its search for a local AI partner, Apple considered startups such as DeepSeek and ByteDance but ultimately chose Alibaba.

Apple is partnering with Alibaba to roll out artificial intelligence features for iPhone users in China, the Information reported on Tuesday, citing one person with direct knowledge of the decision.