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China’s AI app market has one leader and one stalled challenger
QuestMobile’s H1 2026 ranking puts ByteDance’s Doubao at 382.30M monthly active users, more than the second and third-placed apps combined.
Aug 11
1
Tencent’s WorkBuddy shows where China’s AI money is moving
Three giants consolidated competing desktop agent product lines in 14 days. The platform layer, not the model layer, is collecting the rent.
Aug 6
1
July 2026
Only Huawei and Apple grew in China smartphone shipments in Q2
The Q2 split is a preview of which brands will hold premium positioning when the 2028 replacement cycle begins.
Jul 24
3
DeepSeek gave Beijing the only outside vote
Tencent, CATL, and JD.com got no votes. Beijing got the only outside seat. A new template for Chinese AI, and a new counterparty problem for commercial…
Jul 14
2
WeChat's Xiaowei agent is a defensive bet, not a toll booth
Tencent WeChat’s Xiaowei entered beta on June 20 with a WeLM-plus-DeepSeek stack and 13 launch partners. Chinese commentary reads it as an offensive bet…
Jul 3
1
June 2026
Hurun 2026: China’s unicorn pace doubles in 12 months
Hurun’s 2026 Global Unicorn Index counts 1,603 private companies worth at least $1B. AI value now runs roughly triple fintech’s. China added 80 new…
Jun 26
1
1
Tencent’s AI gamble runs through WeChat
Tencent is no longer trying to build China’s smartest model. The goal is to become the layer every AI agent must call to reach real-world services…
Jun 9
1
China’s 618 AI shopping war
Doubao, Qianwen, JD AI Gou, and Xiaohongshu are competing for the AI commerce layer this 618. Hands-on testing reveals a two-horse race. The deciding…
Jun 3
May 2026
Qwen and Doubao closed China’s AI shopping loop. Paid ranking is the next fight.
Alibaba and ByteDance have moved AI shopping from demo to checkout before 618. Qwen can search, compare, and place Taobao orders inside Alibaba’s AI…
May 26
1
Alibaba's AI cloud hits US$5B run rate as operating earnings collapse to zero
Alibaba's March quarter 2026 results show AI-related cloud revenue at RMB9B, an annualized run rate of approximately US$5.2B and the 11th consecutive…
May 20
2
Hy3 tops OpenRouter as Tencent’s AI architecture starts to deliver
Q1 2026 results show Hy3 preview leading global OpenRouter token usage, productivity agents posting 60-80% retention, and marketing services…
May 18
1
China's mobile internet insights for q1
China's mobile user growth is effectively capped, but time-on-platform and sector-level engagement are accelerating sharply, led by AI-generated content…
May 7
1
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