Apple Intelligence Nears China Launch as ASML Expands AI Capacity

China's telecom equipment licensing database showed that the iPhone Duo model A3721 had its license updated on September 29 with model filing numbers for Apple Intelligence, Alibaba's Tongyi Wanxiang and Tongyi Qianwen. Several iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max and later models showed the same change, while iPhone 15, 15 Plus and earlier models did not. Bloomberg said Apple obtained preliminary regulatory approval in July, worked with Alibaba on AI safety mechanisms that meet Chinese rules and with Baidu on search and Siri functions. Apple Intelligence had been planned for May 2025 but was delayed repeatedly. It now faces domestic phone makers that have been iterating AI features.

Apple also announced Double 11 promotions. Tmall's Apple Store flagship said the promotion will start on October 20. The iPhone 17 will receive a 1,000 yuan discount, with eligible users also able to add a national subsidy of up to 500 yuan and interest-free installments. The iPhone 18 Pro will receive a 300 yuan discount, a 500 yuan trade-in government subsidy and 12 interest-free installments. After discounts, the two models will cost 5,499 yuan and 9,999 yuan. Apple published out-of-warranty repair estimates for its HomeView smart home hub at $279 for both the desktop and wall-mounted versions, under 'other damage.' The device sells for $299. AppleCare accidental damage service is $39. Preorders are open, with shipping from November 13; the wall-mounted version requires a separately purchased mount and power adapter.

ASML reported record third-quarter net sales of 11.662 billion euros, net profit of 4.96 billion euros and a gross margin of 57.5 percent under US GAAP. Revenue from equipment services and field upgrades reached 3.289 billion euros, helped by productivity upgrade demand. The company sold 113 new lithography systems and eight used systems. CEO Christophe Fouquet said customers, driven by AI investment expectations, have continued to raise short- and medium-term equipment forecasts, and some have expressed intent to order equipment for 2029 and 2030. ASML said its previously planned supply for 2027 and 2028 will not fully meet demand and is studying a capacity increase for 2028 above the previously announced 30 percent. It forecast fourth-quarter net sales of 14.2 billion to 15.2 billion euros and full-year net sales of 44 billion to 45 billion euros.

China's National Bureau of Statistics said September prices for data storage devices, tablets, computers and mobile phones rose 46.7 percent, 23.6 percent, 21.8 percent and 14.9 percent year on year, respectively. The four categories together contributed about 0.23 percentage points to the year-on-year CPI increase. Month on month, mobile phones rose 3.7 percent, computers 2.0 percent, data storage devices 1.7 percent and tablets 1.5 percent, contributing about 0.04 percentage points to the month-on-month CPI increase. Overall CPI rose 0.9 percent year on year and 0.2 percent month on month; core CPI excluding food and energy rose 1.0 percent year on year.

Tencent's WeCom and WorkBuddy released a new version on October 14. WorkBuddy enters WeCom as a chatbot, allowing employees to assign tasks in chat or log into a standalone WorkBuddy workbench with their WeCom identity. With enterprise authorization, it can use messages, documents, meetings and WeDrive context to compile monthly reports, analyze project progress and return results to collaboration workflows. In an early test by APPSO, it organized topic standards from chat records, generated a project dashboard from documents and spreadsheets, and identified delay risks and sent reminders. Group creation still requires confirmation. Administrators can use WeCom's organizational structure to assign access, configure permissions and manage usage and AI compute procurement. Employees can switch to the standalone workbench for local files or professional tasks.

OPPO and Manus announced a partnership to bring Manus agent capabilities into AI Mind Pilot's new Agent Mode, debuting on the OPPO Find X10 series with ColorOS 17. The mode can understand goals, break down multi-step tasks and use files, photos and online information to produce results. Examples include summarizing flight, hotel and attraction bookings into a daily itinerary, organizing travel photos, or generating presentations, proposals and portfolios from existing files. Local search, organization and renaming tasks run on device, and original files and photos are not shared with Manus; external processing requires explicit user authorization. Agent Mode initially supports Manus and ChatGPT, with free usage quotas in some regions and account linking for existing subscribers.

Doubao Mobile Assistant said on October 14 that the 30-day public comment period for its Screen Automation Operation Declaration Protocol had ended and that it would gradually open screen automation permissions for third-party apps. Apps that have explicitly refused will still not be operated by the agent. The updated list covers the Nubia M153 and Nubia NaviX Ultra. WeChat, WeCom, QQ, Taobao, Alipay, Meituan and affiliated apps are on the refusal list, as are Pinduoduo, Xiaohongshu, Mijia, DeepSeek, Kimi and apps from three telecom carriers. Developers can configure allowed or prohibited scopes by app, page and operation intent, or use forms and email. The two declaration channels remain valid after the comment period and can be changed at any time, with official feedback promised within three working days.

Former ByteDance intern Tian Keyu gave his most complete account of interfering with model training in an interview with 'elsewhere.' The text was published on October 12; the interview was recorded in July. Tian said an intern used too much computing power and stopped others' tasks, and after reporting it without result, he had GPT write a program that manually stopped or stalled the other's training about five times over roughly 10 days. He admitted violating company rules and wasting resources but denied sustained attacks on the training cluster and framing others. According to Jiemian News and Bianews, former team members published a long rebuttal saying his account conflicts with project anomalies and technical records and urged investors and partners to verify with informed people. The materials also raised allegations about the authenticity of a model demonstration. These are conflicting accounts; Tian said the civil case is still in second instance.

In other developments, eight US states separately sued OpenAI, accusing ChatGPT of harming underage users. YouTube Music began labeling AI music and will expand the labels to the main app. Netflix laid off about 1,000 employees, with product, technology, legal and HR teams most affected. Modal raised a $750 million Series D at a $15.75 billion valuation. Berkshire Hathaway plans to invest another $330 million, raising its stake in Bending Spoons to 4 percent. SK Hynix's development head said AI inference is bottlenecked by data movement, not just faster HBM. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said AI safety and capability must advance together and that the company will stop supplying when it knows of harm. XPeng introduced XPENG AI ENGINEERING at the Paris Motor Show, opening vehicle platforms, smart-driving modules, AIBOX, Turing AI chip, battery, e-drive and after-sales diagnostics to global partners, according to Cailian Press. Sony released the ECM-W5 wireless microphone with 32-bit float recording and wireless monitoring. DJI released Airport 4, which can swap batteries automatically in 25 seconds, with a kit priced at 167,999 yuan. Bose began selling two open-ear headphones in China: a sport model at 1,599 yuan and Ultra II at 2,299 yuan. STEPX Neo integrated more than 300 Alipay Abao services, supporting ordering and payment within conversations. Qwen's office e-commerce edition opened invitations for testing, with unified management of cross-platform, multi-store operations. Nature Will released Natura-1, trained on a million hours of human experience for dexterous manipulation. Epic used AI to help rewrite its game launcher, and a preview version supports Linux for the first time. Colossal launched GenoMorph to use AI to screen gene-editing targets for the dodo. LVMH acknowledged that a lawsuit involving Jasmine Milk Tea had a negative impact but said it would not stop investing in China. Booking launched travel agent Vayo and plans to invest $100 million. Banana Republic released its first narrative short drama, with Jack Innanen playing four roles. WeChat launched 'Green Bubble Short Drama.' 'The Cold Song' released its first stills, telling a family's secrets through a nanny's disappearance. The co-creator of 'Halo' published chapters of an AI apocalypse novel, extending the 'One Zero One' comic universe.