WeChat AI teams up with "Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, Vivo, Honor" for a big move! Disrupting the e-commerce app ecosystem—Is Apple in trouble?

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WeChat has completed A2A protocol integration with five Chinese smartphone manufacturers—Huawei, Honor, Xiaomi, OPPO, and vivo—forming a transaction chain with AI as the hub. The core of this mechanism is not a functional upgrade, but the shift of the transaction entry point—from the app front end to the phone system's AI assistant, and Apple is not among those included.

According to Zhuifeng Trading Desk, Jefferies' Hong Kong technology industry analyst Edison Lee characterized this integration as a "milestone event" in his June 9th report, reasoning that: smartphone manufacturers are transforming from hardware sellers to "distributors of user intent," thereby gaining potential for e-commerce revenue sharing, while phone replacement cycles may see a moderate boost within 12 to 24 months. For e-commerce apps, the pressure is more direct—if not integrated into AI agents, they could disappear from the AI’s default invocation list, and traffic losses would occur quietly.

The risk for Apple is also clear. This time, WeChat did not include the iPhone in the A2A collaboration, possibly because Apple has already reached a cooperation agreement with Alibaba on Apple Intelligence, and A2A relies on public cloud for transactions, which conflicts with Apple’s emphasis on device-side privacy. If this domestic ecosystem continues to expand, the iPhone risks falling behind domestic brands in the Chinese market.

Phone makers gain the "right to distribute intent"

The A2A mechanism operates in three steps: the phone’s AI assistant receives the user's voice command and converts it into text, sending it to WeChat; the WeChat agent interacts with agents within WeChat Mini Programs; the transaction is ultimately completed in the cloud.

The key change is in the expression of user intent. Previously, users needed to specify "which app to open, and which vendor to choose"; after A2A, users only need to express a general need like buying, ordering, or reserving, and the AI can make the choice of service provider on their behalf.

This reshapes the market position of phone manufacturers. In the past, e-commerce transaction entry points were mainly controlled by apps, platforms, and traffic channels. If the phone’s AI assistant becomes the primary receiver of user needs, phone manufacturers will be able to influence the final transaction flow, becoming the "gatekeeper" for consumers choosing which e-commerce service to use, thereby gaining bargaining chips for e-commerce revenue sharing.

Device-side processing thresholds are low; replacement cycles see gentle stimulation

A2A does not require deploying complete AI transaction capabilities on the device. The device only needs to handle voice reception, instruction understanding, and message conversion, with transactions primarily processed in the cloud, so the additional requirements for processors and memory are lower than those for pure on-device AI solutions.

This feature lowers the participation threshold for phone manufacturers but doesn’t mean all models can immediately integrate. The first clearly supported device is the Honor 500 Pro, planned for release in November 2025, featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (SM8750), 12GB DRAM, with a retail price range from 3,599 to 4,799 yuan. This configuration is high-end but not flagship level, so initial coverage is likely limited to specific models for each brand.

The stimulation of the replacement cycle has a time lag. Edison Lee’s research suggests a 12- to 24-month observation window, since more mini programs and regular apps require time to develop their own AI agents. Besides, rising component costs still constrain phone prices, so phone replacement growth is likely to be moderate rather than erupting in the short term.

Apps face a new competitive dimension: whether they are chosen by the agent

A2A fundamentally changes the rules of competition between apps. Traditional competition revolves around user downloads, opening, retention, and purchases; from now on, apps will also need to compete for AI recognition, invocation, and recommendation.

If an e-commerce app does not have its own AI agent, when users make generalized requests, it may not appear in the AI’s available list. Traffic loss does not depend on users actively uninstalling apps, but happens quietly through "absence."

WeChat is not the only possible platform—Alibaba is listed as a potential alternative entry point, and app developers’ agents can also interact directly with any smartphone maker’s agent. However, WeChat was the first to realize this linkage, establishing a first-mover advantage for its mini program ecosystem. Industry relationships will be restructured from "entry—application—transaction" to "intent—agent—transaction".

Apple’s problem is route constraint, not technical shortcoming

This time, Tencent WeChat did not include iPhone in the A2A collaboration; the report offers two possible reasons: first, Apple has already reached a cooperation agreement with Alibaba on deploying Apple Intelligence in China; second, A2A transactions are mostly handled in the public cloud, which conflicts with Apple’s emphasis on end-side processing and privacy protection in its technical route.

This does not mean Apple is fundamentally unable to integrate into this ecosystem, but that it has more constraints in the path. China’s domestic phone brands can more flexibly connect AI assistants, WeChat, mini programs, and cloud transactions; if Apple adheres to more stringent privacy and device-side requirements, both integration speed and feature completeness could be limited.

Edison Lee’s research also points out the risks: only when the A2A ecosystem truly expands and more mini programs and apps complete agent development will the iPhone face substantive market share pressure. If ecosystem development is slow, or users still prefer to choose merchants and open apps directly, domestic brands' structural advantages will be difficult to realize in the short term. The real stress test window is in the next 12 to 24 months.

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The above content was published at Zhuifeng Trading Desk.

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