iPhone 16 Fails To Sway Some Chinese Buyers: 'I'm Going To Buy Huawei's Tri-Fold Phone' — Missing AI Features A Sore Point

Apple Inc.’s AAPL iPhone 16 series launch has disappointed China due to its lack of AI features, amid the growing competition from Huawei Technologies in the world’s largest smartphone market.

What Happened: On Monday, at the “Glowtime” event, Apple unveiled the AI-enhanced iPhone 16 to stimulate consumer upgrades amid a slowdown in smartphone sales.

However, the tech giant has not yet announced an AI partner in China for the iPhone 16, and its AI software, Apple Intelligence, will only be available in Chinese language next year, reported Reuters.

See Also: Mark Cuban Praises Elon Musk’s AI Chatbot Grok For Answering Kamala Harris’ POV On Immigration: ‘I Think It’s Accurate’

The iPhone 16 launch was a trending topic on Chinese social media, with AI features being a key point of discussion.

The hashtag “iPhone 16 Chinese version doesn’t support AI yet” garnered over 11.33 million views and more than 1,500 comments on Weibo, China’s social media platform.

“Whether iPhone 16 has AI or not doesn’t affect me, because I’m going to buy Huawei’s tri-fold phone,” one Weibo user wrote on the platform.

Despite the criticism, some analysts believe the lack of AI features in the iPhone 16 will not significantly impact near-term sales. However, they suggest that Apple needs to swiftly establish an AI application and service ecosystem in China to remain competitive, the report noted.

Anisha Bhatia, senior technology analyst at GlobalData, noted that while Apple intends to roll out its AI integration gradually, Google is set to lead by deploying Gemini AI to 200 million Android devices by the end of 2024.

Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox.

Why It Matters: Apple’s struggle in the Chinese market is not new. The company’s market share in China has been declining, dropping from third to sixth place, while Huawei’s smartphone shipments surged by 41% in the second quarter.

Earlier in January, Apple had to slash iPhone 15 prices by $70 for a limited time in China, which suggested a weakening demand for its flagship product.

Meanwhile, Huawei has ramped up its efforts in the smartphone arena. Just two days before the iPhone 16 launch, Huawei’s new tri-fold smartphone, the Mate XT, attracted 1.3 million orders within seven hours of opening reservations.

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: 

• Mark Cuban Explains Why, Despite Getting A Lot Of Flak From Elon Musk And Others, He Continues To Post On X: ‘Don’t Want to Be Where Everyone Agrees with Me’

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.