Apple’s launch of Apple Intelligence has been delayed in comparison to rival smartphones. This April, the company will step up its efforts and expand Apple Intelligence’s availability to new languages. However, there is still much ground to cover.
In April 2025, Apple Intelligence will be available in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and simplified Chinese, along with localized English versions for India and Singapore.
Apple Intelligence’s first version only worked with U.S. English. Later, in December, when the company released the iOS 18.2 update, it included support for English in Australian, Canadian, New Zealand, South African, and U.K. localizations.
The main parts left out are the EU and mainland China. Still, the company has not announced any plans to launch its AI tools there.
Apple’s quarterly revenue increases
In other news, Apple is celebrating a revenue increase despite a rocky season of high competition, specifically in the China market.
In the first quarter of 2025, the iPhone maker’s total income exceeded Wall Street’s predictions. It has risen 4% to $124.3 billion compared to the same period last year. Apple made a profit of $36.33 billion. This is a 7.1% increase from $33.92 billion during the same time last year.
Revenue from both Mac and iPad increased by 15% this quarter due to the release of a new iPad Mini, iMac, Mac Mini, and MacBook Pro. Services like Apple TV, Apple Music, and iCloud grew by 14% this quarter.
All told, the company now has an install base of 2.35 billion operating devices, up from 2.2 billion at the same time last year. CEO Tim Cook also mentioned that Apple has reached 1 billion subscriptions for its own programming and third-party apps.
However, Apple’s overall sales rose during the quarter, the company’s closely watched iPhone sales declined slightly on a year-over-year basis. Apple has been struggling because of stronger competition from local brands like Oppo and Vivo.
CEO Tim Cook said that part of the problem is due to Apple Intelligence not being offered in China and other important markets. He said, “During the December quarter, we saw that in markets where we had rolled out Apple intelligence, that the year-over-year performance on the iPhone 16 family was stronger than those markets where we had not rolled out Apple intelligence.”
Apparently, Apple’s small model generative AI platform is the main reason people are excited about the iPhone 16.
Apple has also faced other issues, one of which is problems in Indonesia, a key smartphone market. The iPhone was banned due to the country’s content rules. Apple suggested investing $1 billion in Indonesia’s manufacturing sector.
However, the government said that amount is not enough to meet a rule that requires 40% of the material in devices to come from local sources.
Apple market struggles in China
For status, Apple can’t add AI features to the iPhone 16 in China. The government requires companies to get permission before launching such products. Now, Apple is seeking agreements with Chinese companies to launch its AI feature.
Other than that, the Chinese government is giving money to help people buy smartphones to boost spending in the country. This has been working against the company. Here’s why. These subsidies are only for budget to mid-range phones that cost less than $800. This means high-end iPhones are not included. Of course, iPhones will sell less.
This is not an iPhone-only problem. At the end of last year, shipments of foreign-branded smartphones, like Apple’s iPhone, to China dropped by 47.4%. However, Apple alone saw sales in China decline 11.1%.
The company saw significant weakness in Greater China, including mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Overall, China sales declined 11.1% during the quarter to $18.51 billion. It is the largest drop in China sales since the same quarter last year when they fell 12.9%
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