Apple's Intelligence launch is imminent, prompting Chinese smartphone companies to highlight their AI capabilities.

• Huawei's Honor division unveiled on Wednesday that its latest version of the Magic operating system, based on Android, would emphasize AI as an assistant.
• On Tuesday, Huawei released an update to its HarmonyOS system, which incorporates in-house AI to enable users to translate text, take notes, and edit photos.
• Earlier this year, Canalys reported that Apple fell out of the top five smartphone players in China.

Chinese smartphone companies are introducing AI features for local users, intensifying competition.

Apple Intelligence will be launched on eligible devices next week, except for users in mainland China and the European Union.

Competitors have increasingly focused on integrating AI with alternative operating systems.

On Tuesday, Huawei released an update to its HarmonyOS system, which now operates independently of the Google-developed Android operating system.

In 2019, Huawei launched its own operating system, HarmonyOS, after being cut off from Google due to U.S. sanctions. The new HarmonyOS utilizes in-house AI to enable users to translate text, take notes, and edit photos.

Huawei's Honor division unveiled on Wednesday that its latest version of the Magic operating system, based on Android, would emphasize AI as an assistant.

The phone was able to automatically order coffee using AI to mimic actions on a touchscreen, even with a vague voice command such as "I'm tired, order something." Human intervention was only needed to complete the payment.

The AI assistant could identify documents and send them to contacts, make calls via social media app WeChat, and perform other tasks without requiring the user to touch the phone.

In China, Honor collaborates with other Chinese companies for some AI functions, while developing others independently. Meanwhile, Honor partners with Google for devices sold abroad.

Honor's Magic 7 smartphone, set to launch on Oct. 30, will feature new AI capabilities. The company aims to introduce AI features to all its devices in the first few months of next year.

The Magic 7 will utilize the newly unveiled Snapdragon Elite 8 chip for its phones, as Honor had previously announced its new AI capabilities at the chipmaker's annual event on Monday.

Xiaomi will launch a new phone this month that uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon Elite 8 chip, but has been less vocal about its AI features for smartphones.

Toby Zhu, senior analyst at Canalys, stated in a phone interview on Wednesday that the AI features of Honor's event have reached a new level and have a greater potential to persuade consumers to switch to another device.

"Although Apple faces challenges in China, our data indicates that it won't experience a significant decline," he stated in Mandarin, as translated by CNBC.

Apple's falling China sales

Apple has not yet entered the foldable category, unlike Honor, Xiaomi, and Huawei, who have all launched foldable devices.

In the quarter ended June 29, Greater China accounted for approximately 17% of Apple's revenue, a decrease from the 19% recorded in the previous year. Apple will reveal its quarterly results on October 31 local time.

On Wednesday, Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, met with Jin Zhuanglong, China's Minister of Industry and Information Technology, to discuss data security and cloud services. Apple did not respond to a CNBC request for comment.

The iPhone 16 Pro Max, launched on Sept. 20, has experienced a slight decrease in value on Xianyu, a second-hand shopping platform. The device was priced between 8,000 and 10,000 yuan ($1,122) on Wednesday, compared to 10,500 to 16,300 yuan last month.

On the same day as Huawei's trifold Mate XT launch, second-hand prices for the device had decreased to the mid-20,000 yuan range, which is nearly half the price it was selling for on Sept. 20.

— CNBC's Dylan Butts and Sonia Heng contributed to this report.