This week, Apple announced that it will bring Apple developer services to China’s WeChat app as part of its efforts to invest more in the Chinese market. The service includes news, announcements and other activities for members of the developer community. This is usually delivered via Apple’s website and its own developer app.
This move comes amid a decline in iPhone sales in the Chinese market. In the most recent quarter, China’s sales fell 11.1%, affecting iPhone revenues. Partly this is because Apple faces increased competition with local manufacturers such as Oppo and Huawei. This has led the iPhone maker to launch the $599 iPhone 16E with Apple Intelligence.
The company is also reported in conversations from Tencent and Bytedance to bring AI Technologies to new devices, as they did in the US with Openai’s ChatGpt.
Of course, Tencent also operates WeChat, a message messaging, social media and payment app that Chinese users often use. So Apple’s support for WeChat makes sense not only as a broader context of expanding its reach with Chinese developers, but also as a way to slacking off AI trading.