Huafu Securities: Progress in cooperation between Apple's ecosystem and domestic large models accelerates, aiding the implementation of AI smartphones

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Huafu Securities released a research report stating that recently, as reported by Lei Technology citing market sources, Apple is in discussions with Tencent and ByteDance, hoping to integrate their artificial intelligence models into the iPhones sold in the Chinese market. This discussion is still in its early stages. Additionally, First Financial has learned that Apple is also negotiating with Zhipu, and besides Baidu, the number of AI large model companies in contact with Apple has increased to at least three. This cooperation discussion between Apple, Tencent, and ByteDance, and the potential changes/additions of partners, has accelerated the pace of Apple's AI implementation in the domestic market. With the future integration of domestic large models into the Apple ecosystem and the successful localization of the iPhone AI experience, the sales of Apple phones in the Chinese market are expected to see growth, bringing growth opportunities to related industry chain segments.

The main points of Huafu Securities are as follows:

ChatGPT has been integrated into Apple devices outside of China

In June of this year, Apple introduced the Apple Intelligence feature for the first time in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia systems. Apple's AI includes local small models, cloud models, and integrated third-party large models. In the same month, OpenAI announced a technical cooperation with Apple to deeply integrate ChatGPT into Apple's product matrix. At the beginning of December, with the release of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, Apple began integrating OpenAI's ChatGPT into its global devices, but due to regulatory restrictions, ChatGPT is not available in China.

After the launch of Apple's Apple Intelligence solution, system AI has become a clear development direction for AI phones, with external large models being a key component

Through system AI, AI can become a personalized/automated tool for understanding user contexts and achieving cross-App operations. Integrating third-party intelligent large models is crucial for realizing this systematic AI architecture. After integrating large models, on one hand, Siri will undergo a comprehensive upgrade, possessing stronger dialogue understanding capabilities, enhanced thinking and task decision-making abilities, while also deeply understanding local data and having the cognitive ability for personal contexts; on the other hand, as an external intelligent large model, ChatGPT is expected to achieve command reception and understanding, and can traverse different software workflows to complete commands, thus realizing true mobile AI.

The integration of the Apple ecosystem with domestic large models is key to the implementation of AI phones

Whether Apple's Apple Intelligence solution can be implemented in the Chinese market requires not only support for Chinese but also local partners to address technical and regulatory challenges. To achieve rapid implementation, Apple needs to find suitable local AI large model service partners for its AI functions. Previously, Apple planned to use Baidu's Wenxin Yiyan large model as the Chinese version of Apple AI, but there are still many challenges to overcome in realizing the AI operating system solution and integrating the Apple ecosystem with large model capabilities This cooperation negotiation between Apple, Tencent, and ByteDance may change or add partners, accelerating the pace of Apple's AI implementation in the domestic market. With the future integration of domestic large models into the Apple ecosystem and the successful localization of the iPhone AI experience, the sales of Apple phones in the Chinese market are expected to see growth, bringing growth opportunities to related industry chain segments.

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Risk Warning

Technological development and implementation may fall short of expectations; downstream terminal shipments may not meet expectations; downstream demand may not meet expectations; risks of intensified market competition; geopolitical risks; industry prosperity may not meet expectations