Apple's China headache isn't going away anytime soon

• Apple missed income estimates successful Greater China past quarter.
• Greater China is simply a cardinal marketplace for Apple, pinch caller AI features expected to rotation retired successful April.
• Wedbush analysts said Apple whitethorn partner pinch Chinese tech firms for illustration Baidu to bring AI to China.

It looks for illustration it's going to beryllium a while until Apple rebounds from its troubles successful China.

The tech elephantine missed expert estimates for its income successful Greater China — a cardinal region for Apple, peculiarly for iPhone income — during its fiscal 4th quarter, which it reported Thursday.

Overall, Apple reported beardown iPhone request for this past quarter. It besides rolled retired its highly-anticipated Apple Intelligence package successful nan US successful English connected Monday. Some analysts person said this could thrust consumers to waste and acquisition up to caller iPhones — for illustration nan iPhone 16 models — that tin support nan technology, though it remains to beryllium seen really overmuch that'll hap successful nan existent period.

While consumers whitethorn beryllium buying nan newest iPhones successful Greater China, they'll person to hold until April for Apple Intelligence to motorboat successful Chinese, however.

Meantime, Apple is facing title from section smartphone makers for illustration Huawei and Xiaomi successful nan country.

Apple is reportedly successful talks pinch Chinese tech giants, for illustration Baidu, to bring their AI powerfulness to iPhones successful a business not dissimilar nan 1 it's struck pinch OpenAI. All GenAI models must beryllium vetted and approved by regulators successful China.

Apple will besides rotation retired much AI features astir April, CEO Tim Cook said connected Thursday's net call. So far, nan institution has introduced a constricted number of functions.

"Apple is prioritizing execution complete velocity — a strategy that could beryllium to beryllium either prudent aliases perchance costly depending connected really quickly competitors beforehand their AI capabilities," expert Jacob Bourne astatine EMARKETER, a sister institution to Business Insider, said.

Wedbush Securities analysts, who person an "outperform" standing connected nan stock, said nan China region "should now beryllium connected a gait to show precocious single-digit maturation and perchance double-digit arsenic nan iPhone 16 rhythm plays retired successful this halfway region and AI apt hits successful April."

However, title is stiff, and Apple Intelligence still needs clip to beryllium itself. It'll return months to cognize for definite if AI tin move nan needle for Apple successful Greater China.