China streaming giant iQiyi announced a major strategic pivot at its April 2026 content showcase, saying it will scale AI-generated films and transform its service into a social-media-style platform built around AI content. CEO Gong Yu unveiled Nadou Pro, a production toolkit the company says can handle scriptwriting, storyboards and final rendering, and disclosed a debut slate of 16 AI-produced sci‑fi and anime films with a fully AI-made feature targeted for commercial release as soon as this summer. iQiyi plans revenue incentives — an extra 20% ad and membership share — to attract creators to AI workflows and will launch a standalone app enabling users to interact with show characters. The move comes as iQiyi faces pressure from short-form rivals and an expected 13% year-on-year revenue decline in Q1; the company is also pursuing a Hong Kong listing and highlighting faster overseas membership growth from a small base. The company said Nadou Pro will integrate models from domestic partners and an international stack, underscoring ambitions to drive down production costs and scale content output.

Apple announced on April 20, 2026 that longtime hardware executive John Ternus will succeed Tim Cook as chief executive on Sept. 1, 2026, as Cook transitions to the role of executive chairman. Ternus, 50, who joined Apple in 2001 and has been senior vice president of hardware engineering since 2021, has overseen teams behind the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPods and led major product revamps including last year’s iPhone Air. The move completes a planned internal succession after nearly 15 years under Cook, whose tenure saw Apple’s market value surge to roughly $4 trillion. Apple also promoted Johny Srouji to chief hardware officer to run silicon and hardware technologies. The leadership change comes as Apple faces mounting competitive pressure in artificial intelligence and pushes to accelerate product innovation. Cook said he will stay through the transition and will assist with board duties and policy engagement worldwide. The company emphasised continuity by choosing an internal product-focused leader and establishing a handover timeline to reassure investors, partners and regulators.

Amazon and AI startup Anthropic announced an expanded strategic arrangement on April 20, 2026 that deepens their cloud and capital ties. Amazon will invest $5 billion immediately and up to $20 billion more tied to commercial milestones (widely reported as up to $25 billion in new funding). Anthropic, for its part, committed to spending more than $100 billion on Amazon Web Services over the next decade and has secured up to 5 gigawatts of capacity on Amazon’s Trainium AI chips (covering Trainium2 through Trainium4). Companies said nearly 1 GW of Trainium2/3 capacity will come online by year-end and that the full Claude platform will be available within AWS accounts. The deal follows Amazon’s similar, larger package with OpenAI and comes as hyperscalers race to lock major AI labs to their custom silicon. Amazon had previously invested roughly $8 billion in Anthropic; combining prior and potential future payments, total support could approach the low tens of billions.

Adobe on April 20 unveiled CX Enterprise, a new suite of AI agents designed to automate and personalise digital marketing, customer engagement and sales workflows for large organisations. The platform — which includes an autonomous worker called CX Enterprise Coworker — aims to let enterprises embed AI into existing processes and orchestrate agents across ecosystems. Adobe said it has partnered with major cloud and model providers including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Nvidia, Anthropic, OpenAI and IBM to ensure cross-platform compatibility. The announcement, made at Adobe Summit, lifted the stock roughly 2–2.5% intraday after a year-to-date drop of about 30%. Adobe remains under investor scrutiny as competitors such as OpenAI, Anthropic and design-focused entrants press into image-generation and creative tools; reports also note OpenAI preparing a new image model. Adobe’s market metrics cited by analysts show a P/E around 14–15 and a market value near $100 billion. The company is also navigating leadership change after CEO Shantanu Narayen signalled plans to step down after 18 years, adding an extra layer of investor focus on whether CX Enterprise can convert into durable enterprise revenue.

Meta has begun testing a paid tier for WhatsApp called WhatsApp Plus, rolling out to a limited set of Android beta users as part of a broader push to introduce premium tiers across its apps. The subscription focuses on customization and organization: expanded pinned chats (up to 20), custom chat lists, 18 chat themes, alternative app icons, exclusive ringtones, animated sticker packs and other cosmetic perks. Meta confirmed the test and aims to gather user feedback before wider rollout; iOS support is planned later. Reported regional pricing is roughly €2.49 per month in Europe, MX$29 in Mexico and PKR 229 in Pakistan, with one-month trial offers in some markets. Core messaging, voice and video calls and end-to-end encryption remain free, and there is no indication paid plans remove ads in Status. The move follows Instagram Plus tests and fits Meta’s strategy to diversify revenue amid heavy spending on AI infrastructure and growing paid messaging for businesses.

Google said on April 20 it is expanding its Gemini in Chrome assistant to seven additional markets — Australia, Indonesia, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Vietnam. The feature appears in Chrome’s sidebar and is available on desktop and iOS in all listed countries except Japan, where iOS support is not yet offered. Gemini in Chrome connects to Google services through Personal Intelligence, allowing users to draft and send emails via Gmail, add events to Calendar, check locations in Maps and surface photos from Google Photos. The sidebar also provides access to Google’s Nano Banana 2 image generator. The rollout follows earlier launches in the U.S. (January) and expansions to India, Canada and New Zealand in March. Google noted that its more agentic capability — which can act across the browser to complete tasks — remains in testing and is restricted to AI Pro and AI Ultra paid plans for U.S. users.