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Apple recently posted and removed details explaining how Mac users in China could set up their computers to work with Alibaba's Qwen AI. Now, Reuters has confirmed long-held speculation that Apple has revisited its Google Gemini AI playbook and built its own proprietary AI model for China with support from Alibaba.
Apple worked with a Chinese partner because US models such as ChatGPT or Claude are not being made available there, though Chinese AI development doesn't seem to be held back by that lack. Apple and Alibaba have not commented on the claims, the report said.
The approach echoes Apple's work with Google to build more advanced large language models (LLMs) for use with Apple Intelligence, and the news will likely be seen as broadly positive by Chinese iPhone users. They can now look forward to working with Apple Intelligence on their devices. The proximity of the reporting suggests they may be able to access Apple's AI quite soon, once new Apple operating systems ship next month.
The silver lining
It's also smart, as it means Apple has identified a way to introduce AI features in nations that are becoming protective of their tech stack.And while Apple's work with Google on Apple Intelligence was widely regarded as signifying how far behind the company had grown on AI, the work it is now doing with A
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One of AI vendor DeepSeek's biggest selling points has been its ultra-low price point, but that party's about to end.
The Chinese model provider is raising API pricing for its V4 model family by notable margins, in some cases by more than 1,100%. The increases may not be that dramatic for all, though; the company is encouraging "more flexible workload scheduling," with peak rates and half-price off-peak rates.
The news was tucked into the announcement of the general availability (GA) of DeepSeek V4-Pro and upgrades to VR-Flash. The new pricing takes effect for most parts of the world on August 16.
"On paper, at peak, against the right comparator, DeepSeek's price advantage does disappear, and in places inverts," said Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst at Greyhound Research. But in practice, "the schedule's own clock and cache hand most of it back to any buyer paying attention."
How Flash and Pro compare now
The new API pricing structure is as follows:
Flash is now $0.22 per million input tokens (cache miss) and $0.66 per million output tokens off-peak; and $0.44 per million input tokens (cache miss) and $1.32 per million output tokens at peak.
This is up from the flat rate of $0.14 for inputs (cache miss),
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How to activate your Windows 11 license
After you've made your order, you'll have to check your email inbox for the license key. Once you have that and your chosen Windows 11 copy is installed, here's how to activate t
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