Apple’s AI plans hit a bureaucratic wall in China. Local phone makers aren’t waiting.
China’s top domestic smartphone brands have spent much of 2025 rolling out two things at once: flashy, AI-driven features and easier ways for iPhone users to jump ship. That push isn’t subtle. It’s a coordinated shove aimed at the one thing Apple has long weaponized against rivals: a closed, convenient ecosystem.
From gentle nudges to direct recruitment
For years, the problem for Chinese Android brands was the same: convincing someone who’s deeply invested in iOS to risk the hassle of switching. Apple made migration painless with tightly integrated apps and cloud services. This year, Oppo, Honor, Xiaomi, Vivo and Huawei have tried to blunt that advantage with migration tools and cross‑device conveniences that mimic — or in some cases replicate — Apple’s ease of use.
Honor, now independent from Huawei, updated its Device Clone app so iPhone owners can move photos, messages and contacts with a simple QR code. Its Honor Connect tool behaves a lot like AirDrop, exchanging files with iOS hardware. Honor’s AI features — think coupon-comparison, quicker taxi booking across services and short-video generation — are being pitched not as gimmicks but as daily conveniences that might finally tip some users away from Apple.
Oppo’s assistant can parse screenshots to track spending and even use the camera for real-time gym coaching. Xiaomi’s software boasts cross-device file transfer, screen sharing and notification syncing with iPhones. Company presenters have openly invited Apple users to try the new experience.
And these aren’t tiny niche updates. Companies are promoting them aggressively at launches and in online stores — the kind of practical, productized AI that everyday buyers can grasp.
Why now? Rules, geopolitics and an opening for rivals
The backdrop is important. China’s internet regulator has been slow to approve Apple’s AI features, a delay industry sources and analysts link to broader U.S.-China tensions rather than purely technical safety concerns. Apple reportedly delayed the China launch of a thinner iPhone Air in September for regulatory clearance, underscoring that Cupertino must navigate a different playbook in the market that still matters most for global volumes.
Analysts say the delay has left a window. “Chinese smartphone vendors are clearly moving faster and with greater openness in AI development,” Lucas Zhong of Omdia told reporters. He cautioned that conversions will take time, but added the push will “undoubtedly add pressure to Apple’s operations in China.”
Counterpoint Research highlights how fractured the market is — no vendor controls more than about 20 percent — and that competition for premium buyers is fierce. Apple’s iPhone 17 rollout helped claw back momentum globally, but in China domestic brands see an opportunity to make serious inroads by mixing hardware novelty (foldables, for instance) with AI features consumers find useful.
Practical AI beats vaporware
What makes this moment different from earlier arms races over specs is how vendors are packaging AI: as helpers for shopping, commuting, fitness and content creation, not as vague cloud slogans. Honor says roughly 37 percent of Magic V5 buyers in online channels came from Apple devices after using its migration tools — a bold claim that, if accurate even in part, signals these features can move users.
Still, the scale matters. Outside China the premium segment remains stubbornly Apple-centric; IDC noted Xiaomi’s foothold in Western Europe’s premium tier is still modest. But in a market where consumers are upgrading after pandemic-era stalls, a well‑timed nudge can change the upgrade calculus.
A subtle tactical shift
This isn’t an existential threat to Apple yet. The company still has huge brand loyalty, deep services integration and a product pipeline that includes partnerships and new AI strategies. Apple’s own moves on AI — including reported collaborations to power Siri — are unfolding on a global timetable that doesn’t always match China’s regulatory rhythm. You can read more about Apple’s AI roadmap in our coverage of its work with external models [/news/apple-google-gemini-siri].
On the other side, some Chinese vendors are preparing products that will travel well beyond their home market. Vivo’s recent halo devices and camera bets hint at ambitions that could bring these AI features to international buyers too [/news/vivo-x300-ultra-two-200mp].
Apple’s stuck between doing things the way it always has — careful, integrated, globally consistent — and the need to move faster in a key market where rivals are experimenting loudly and publicly. For consumers, the immediate winner is choice: more phones that promise smarter help for everyday tasks and simpler ways to make the jump off iOS.
Whether those choices lead to mass defections remains to be seen. But the next time Apple stalls on a marquee feature, expect the local brands to push even harder: better migration tools, more grounded AI use-cases, and louder invitations to try something new. That’s the commercial experiment now playing out in real time.