Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) is reportedly continuing its partnership with Baidu Inc Sponsored ADR Class A to develop AI features for Chinese iPhone users in order to diversify risks.

According to media reports citing sources, despite having a partnership with Alibaba, Apple continues to collaborate with Baidu to develop artificial intelligence (AI) features for Chinese iPhone users. It is reported that Baidu is developing an AI search function that can process images and text, and is upgrading the Chinese version of the Siri voice assistant, all of which are part of the "Apple Intelligence" suite. Apple first announced Apple Intelligence at last year's WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) and announced a partnership with the AI company OpenAI. In December of last year, Apple Intelligence was first launched in English-speaking countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. There are reports that Apple has started testing different AI models from Chinese developers since 2023 to launch Apple Intelligence for the Chinese market, and at one point chose Baidu as a primary partner. Reports on Tuesday indicated that Apple has started considering other options in recent months, testing AI models from the popular AI startup DeepSeek in addition to Chinese internet giants Tencent, Alibaba, and ByteDance. Following the announcement of this news, both Apple and Alibaba's stock prices saw significant increases. After weighing their options, Apple ultimately chose to collaborate with Alibaba to develop AI features. Alibaba's Chairman, Daniel Zhang, confirmed this partnership at a summit in Dubai on Thursday. Apple's collaboration with both Baidu and Alibaba shows its strategy in the Chinese market to reduce risks, as it faces intense competition from domestic smartphone brands like Huawei and Vivo. Internationally, Apple Intelligence relies on Apple's in-house AI models and collaboration with OpenAI. OpenAI's chatbot, called Siasun Robot & AutomationChatGPT, plays a crucial role in handling complex tasks on the iPhone. Apple has previously stated that it hopes to offer AI models from other companies like Google in the future. This article was originally published by Cailian News, edited by GMTEight: Chen Wenfang.