Tech giant Apple partners with Chinese podcast platform Ximalaya (also known as Himalaya) in content in Chinese mainland, according to an announcement (in Chinese) posted on Ximalaya’s official WeChat account on Sunday.

The announcement noted that Ximalaya is now a certified hosting platform for Apple Podcast. Ximalaya claimed they are the first podcast platform certified by Apple.

Ximalaya would host podcast content in “48K AAAC V2” format which offers richer details for better experience while Apple offers entrance and distribution for podcast creators.

The Tencent-backed platform now hosted over 26,000 albumes and 160 million Chinese users, as the Ximalaya stated in the announcement.

Ximalaya managed to achieve its first quarterly profit (in Chinese) in the fourth quarter of 2022 with its 10-year existence, the firm’s CEO Yu Jianjun stated earlier this year, according to Chinese media outlet Yicai.

Apple is the second largest (in Chinese) smartphone vendor in China by shipment in the first quarter of 2023, taking 17.6% of the market, according to consultancy IDC.