Apple Inc will add Baidu, China's biggest online search tool, as another default search tool in iPhones in China as the US technology giant aims to penetrate the domestic market further, Shanghai Daily learned yesterday.

Besides Google, the Baidu search engine will be incorporated in the iPhones in China, details of which are to be unveiled next week, Bloomberg News reported yesterday citing two sources.

Yue Guofeng, who runs Baidu's mobile and cloud division, said in a recent interview in Shanghai that Baidu's search would be added as one of iPhone's default search tools "very soon."

Apple China declined to comment on the issue yesterday.

Apple is holding its annual developers' conference in San Francisco from Monday during which updates to the operating system for iPhone and Mac computers will be announced.

The tie-up will broaden Baidu's services among high-end iPhone users and provide Apple's users with more localized services, industry insiders said, adding Apple may also want to reduce its reliance on Google products.

Apple plans to unveil its own map service next week to replace the current Google Map on iPhone, they said.

Baidu now holds almost 80 percent of the domestic market, the world's biggest mobile phone and Internet market where Apple tripled revenue annually in the first quarter amid surging sales of iPhones and iPads. China is now its biggest Asian market.

To cater to Chinese users, Apple has also added NetEase's 126 and 163 e-mail services as default service providers.