The new launch of Apple iPhone attracted contempt Tuesday for its lack of artificial intelligence features in China, a challenge for the American giant while fighting the growing competition of Huawei Technologies on the world’s largest market smartphones.
Apple unveiled its long -awaited iPhone 16 on Monday and finished AI, hoping that new features would encourage consumers to upgrade in the middle of a slowdown in smartphones sales, which represent more than half of its total sales.
But Apple has not yet announced an AI partner in China to feed the 16s, and Apple Intelligence, the company’s IA software, will be available in Chinese language only next year.
I don’t know which
Mobile to buy?
The launch of the iPhone 16 dominated discussions on Chinese social media on Tuesday, before Huawei’s unveiling of a foldable smartphone to three later.
On Weibo, the X-type platform in China, three of the 10 main trend topics were linked to the iPhone 16 Launch, with AI features among a key discussion subject.
The Chinese version of the hashtag “iPhone 16 does not support AI” has “attracted 11.33 million views and more than 1,500 comments on Weibo.
“What is the point of buying it if you can’t use AI?” wrote a Weibo user.
Another commented: “Without AI as the largest sale argument, it should be half price.”
The iPhone 16 and 16 will cost the same as the models they will replace. In China, Apple has aggressively reduced prices earlier this year, while government restrictions on the use of brand phones abroad and the increase in domestic competition weighed on its sales of smartphones.
Other Weibo users have compared Apple’s launch with Huawei’s new phone, which should be published while the Chinese company seeks to expand its advance on its domestic market.
“The fact that the iPhone 16 has an AI or not affects me, because I will buy the Huawei tripolar phone,” wrote a Weibo user, highlighting the growing popularity of the latest Huawei models in China who l ‘helped replace Apple as an Apple as smartphones seller 3 in the country in the second quarter.
But some analysts predicted the absence of Characteristics of AI In the iPhone 16, it was unlikely to have a significant impact on short -term sales.
“Chinese consumers have not yet been pushed to upgrade by AI’s capacities … However, in the long term, because national brands use AI as key differentiator for their flagship products, this will negatively affect Apple” , said Toby Zhu, analyst at the Coanalys technological market research company.
Zhu said Apple must locate his offers and quickly establish an AI AI application and service ecosystem in China to remain competitive.
The powerful Apple operating system remains a draw for Chinese consumers, according to Will Wong, analyst at IDC.
“Apple’s main competitive advantage is its high collaboration of the customer. Thus, the replacement needs of users of the iPhone 11, 12 or 13 series could always support Apple sales in the absence of AI. “”
“It is still too early to say who will win,” said Wong.
Preorders for the new iphone Start Friday in China with online retailers such as JD.com, with deliveries from September 20.
(Report by Liam Mo and Casey Hall; edition by Miyoung Kim and Sonali Paul)
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