Apple Releases iOS 27 With New Siri AI; iPhone Channel Discounts Draw Response

Apple responded to channel discounts on the iPhone 18 Pro after a 256GB model was offered at 9,099 yuan on an e-commerce platform on Sept. 14, 900 yuan below the official 9,999 yuan starting price, according to Zhongxin Jingwei and Cailian Press. Apple customer service said third-party sellers have their own pricing authority and may offer platform subsidies or store discounts, and Apple will not intervene. The platform's customer service said purchase prices fluctuate with the market, no price protection is provided and no difference will be refunded after purchase. The product requires on-site receipt and unboxing activation, and activated phones are not eligible for seven-day no-reason returns. Apple customer service said after-sales rights differ by channel; Apple's official website allows returns within 14 days of delivery if undamaged products, original accessories, invoice and packaging are returned as required. On the same day, after reports that the iPhone 17 could drop to 5,499 yuan with authorized-channel discounts and national subsidies, Apple customer service said the official website had issued no price-cut notice and third-party prices may fluctuate because of promotions or subsidies.

Doubao announced the consumer version of its phone assistant on Sept. 14. The first device to carry it, the Nubia Navi X Ultra, opened preorders and will go on sale on Sept. 16. The assistant uses system-level collaboration to provide voice, screen understanding and phone-operation capabilities. An AI button supports long-press questions and double-tap video interaction, and voice wake-up is available; continuous conversation remains in beta. With user authorization, it can use call recordings, photos and text messages to build memory and can manually save screen content. The phone-operation beta combines tool calls and simulated clicks for cross-app tasks, supports task queuing and inserting new tasks mid-way, and shows progress on the lock screen. System tools work with Calendar, Alarm, Phone and Feishu to provide meeting recording transcription, real-time translation and document and PPT work. Coverage is limited: phone operation currently supports system apps, related partner apps and some integrated third-party apps, while the Beta ride-hailing service combining Cao Cao Mobility and maps first supports Beijing and Hangzhou. The company said it processes information on a minimum-necessary basis and lets users control authorization and memory.

Anthropic has chosen Nasdaq as the exchange for a potential IPO and is aiming to list in October, Business Insider reported. The company has not publicly filed its prospectus, and the timing may still change. People familiar with the matter said some estimates put Anthropic's IPO valuation at about $2 trillion, but the final valuation has not been set and should not be treated as a completed financing or pricing. Under the U.S. listing process, a company must disclose financial information at least 15 days before starting a roadshow. Choosing an exchange is one preparatory step, followed by filing disclosure, investor roadshows and issue pricing.

BYD Executive Vice President Li Ke said in an interview with Carwow.es in Valencia, Spain, that a model would carry BYD's solid-state battery technology in 2027 to demonstrate the results of related research. The arrangement is currently a technical demonstration target and does not amount to a confirmed retail launch or mass-production timetable. She said BYD is studying various battery technologies, with research covering battery chemistry, manufacturing capability and equipment design. Installing a battery in a vehicle also requires validating system integration under vibration, temperature changes and repeated charge-discharge cycles. Li Ke said that as BYD's flash-charging technology spreads in China, fuel vehicles have no future there; electrification in other regions may take several more years, but she expects them to reach the same outcome.

GAC Group and China FAW's listed company signed an intent agreement on the evening of Sept. 14. GAC said in a trading-suspension announcement that it plans to issue shares to buy part of a wholly owned vehicle joint venture held by FAW and raise supporting funds. Based on preliminary estimates, FAW would become GAC's second-largest shareholder with strategic influence after the deal. The transaction is expected to constitute a major asset restructuring and related-party transaction, without changing GAC's actual controller or amounting to a backdoor listing. GAC said the target involves an overseas-listed company, so the name is temporarily withheld and will be disclosed in the restructuring plan. The two sides have signed only a preliminary cooperation intent; a formal agreement has not been signed, and implementation still requires internal decisions and regulatory approval. GAC's A shares were suspended from Sept. 14 and are expected to remain suspended for no more than 10 trading days. The company will disclose after its board approves the restructuring plan and apply to resume trading.

Leapmotor announced on Sept. 14 that cumulative production of the B01 and B10 passed 300,000 units in one year and six months, the fastest record for a Leapmotor model line to reach that output. The B10 also set Leapmotor's fastest record for 60,000 export units. The 300,000 figure is cumulative production for the two models, not monthly sales or deliveries; the 60,000 figure is the B10's export volume. The B01 is a compact electric sedan and the B10 a compact electric SUV. Both received annual facelifts in July, are built on the LEAP3.5 architecture and offer long-range versions with an 800V high-voltage system.

The China Earthquake Networks Center said in a website reply on Sept. 11 that it is communicating with Apple and working to accelerate the integration of system-level earthquake early warning into iOS, Beijing News reported. Apple phone users can currently receive earthquake early warning information issued by the center through a WeChat mini-program. The reply indicated a direction of work rather than an announcement that iOS system-level warning has launched, and no launch date was given. In another reply about cell broadcast warning, the China Earthquake Administration said the technology sends information through communication base stations and is not limited by phone brand; work is being advanced with the industry and information technology department and still requires validation. Cell broadcast and Apple system integration are separate efforts.

The National Cybersecurity Standardization Technical Committee released the Artificial Intelligence Safety Governance Framework 3.0 on Sept. 14 at the opening ceremony of Cybersecurity Week. According to the Cyberspace Administration of China's website, the new version continues the core logic of risk classification, technical response and comprehensive governance, updates risk categories and adjusts technical response and governance measures. It upholds principles of putting people first, pursuing goodness, strengthening risk awareness and ensuring safety and controllability. The drafting was guided by the CAC and involved the China Cyberspace Research Institute, the CAC Data and Technical Support Center, research institutions and industry companies. The committee previously released versions 1.0 in 2024 and 2.0 in 2025.

A Hyundai Motor Group executive directly familiar with the matter said Boston Dynamics' IPO next year 'will not be easy,' Reuters reported. The humanoid robotics company has not yet deployed its flagship Atlas at scale and has not become profitable. The executive asked not to be named because the matter is confidential. Hyundai has not publicly disclosed a potential listing timetable or target valuation. The group showed a new version of Atlas at CES in January and in July announced plans to buy about 10% of Boston Dynamics from SoftBank to make it a wholly owned subsidiary. Hyundai's manufacturing plan points to 2028: building a plant capable of producing 30,000 robots a year and beginning deployment of humanoid robots at its Georgia plant that year before expanding to other production sites. Meritz Securities analyst Kim Joon-sung said a listing is more likely in 2029 or 2030 because Hyundai still needs to accumulate large amounts of operational data, improve robot capabilities and sell widely to external customers. IBK Asset Management fund manager Kim Hyun-su said making robots carry heavy objects and work in factory manufacturing is much harder than making them dance.

Nvidia, Palantir and Booz Allen are making stricter demands of Anthropic over enterprise data retention, and some sensitive tasks have reduced or stopped using its Fable model, The Information reported. Nvidia currently uses Fable only for lower-sensitivity tasks such as open-source software; internal projects such as supply-chain monitoring use its own Nemotron. Nvidia Vice President of Enterprise AI Justin Boitano said zero data retention should be on by default. Palantir is not offering Fable through its own software to customers and is asking Anthropic for an irrevocable zero-data-retention commitment; customers can still buy directly from Anthropic. Booz Allen restricts employees from using Fable in work involving clients' proprietary cybersecurity software, and its technology chief said the concerns center on a small number of intellectual-property-sensitive scenarios. The dispute stems from Anthropic's June launch of Fable, when it required rolling 30-day retention of usage logs to defend against malicious attacks. This month the company proposed allowing eligible enterprises to store related data on their own servers, with a phased rollout planned for autumn, but it retains the right to revoke the arrangement. Anthropic and OpenAI both say they do not by default train models on inputs and outputs from enterprise contract customers unless customers actively agree to share.

X Corp and SpaceXAI filed in a Texas federal court on Sept. 14 to withdraw an antitrust lawsuit they filed against Apple last year, Reuters reported. The lawsuit alleged that Apple exclusively integrated ChatGPT into Apple Intelligence features on iPhones and other devices, and that its partnership with OpenAI excluded other generative AI chatbots and monopolized the smartphone and chatbot markets. The two companies are withdrawing the claims against Apple but will continue to pursue co-defendant OpenAI.

Other developments included reports that OpenAI spent more than $300 million to acquire Glass Imaging, a phone camera startup founded by former Apple employees; the EU planning an age-based internet access framework covering social media and AI chatbots; Microsoft issuing AI behavior guidelines that say human control can be preserved at the cost of model capability; Li Xiang saying pure-electric architecture will end the SUV size arms race; Siri code showing Claude can be integrated but model replacement authority is not yet open; Tesla listing Cybercab exhibition dates in Beijing and Shanghai for static display only; iQOO announcing a Samsung M16 display plan for the iQOO 16; Chinese creature-collection RPG Yimo opening PC pre-download for a Sept. 16 launch; WorkBuddy upgrading PPT capabilities to support templates and partial edits; Unitree releasing the G1+ with a new neck degree of freedom and continuous external power; and Yu Donglai responding that four-year contracts will strictly follow labor law on work and labor relations.