Apple didn't immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Apple has been rushing to incorporate artificial intelligence into its devices to get ahead of rivals. Reuters had earlier reported that the iPhone maker is in talks with Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance about integrating their artificial intelligence models into iPhones sold in China.

Tencent Holdings Ltd. became the latest tech company to unveil or enhance an AI model intended to eclipse DeepSeek, joining a spate of rollouts since the startup’s emergence energized the US-China technology race.

Tencent has launched advertising for Yuanbao on nearly all products in its product ecosystem, digital content marketing platform DataEye reported yesterday. The app ranked second on the free download charts on Apple's mainland App Store on Feb. 22, behind only DeepSeek-R1.

Chinese tech giant Tencent launched its latest AI model, Hunyuan Turbo S claiming it can answer questions faster than the global hit DeepSeek R1.

HONG KONG -- China's chatbot market, led by TikTok owner ByteDance and startup Moonshot, is in for a shakeup after Tencent announced it was joining the growing list of Big Tech players embracing DeepSeek's artificial intelligence model.