Apple expanded its partnership with software maker SAP to enable customers to develop in-house mobile business apps using the iPhone maker’s machine learning (ML) capabilities.

In a statement, SAP said Apple’s on-device ML technology will be available for the first time on its cloud platform software developer kit (SDK).

The move will enable businesses to create “custom, intelligent iOS apps”, with ML models automatically downloaded to iPhones and iPads, allowing apps to run offline and update when connected to SAP’s cloud platform.

SAP and Apple noted the potential the partnership holds for the enterprise in particular, with Apple’s ML and AR technology enabling iPhones and iPads to complete a range of business tasks in manufacturing, for example.

Apple CEO Tim Cook (pictured, left) said enterprise customers are seeing real benefits when they use iOS and it was excited to expand the partnership.

The pair agreed a partnership in 2016 to develop business apps enabling SAP mobile apps to run natively on Apple’s iOS. These included apps in human resources and expense management.

As part of the expanded partnership, the companies added that these apps will also run natively on Apple Macs.

Bill McDermott CEO of SAP (pictured, right) added “Apple is on the rise in the enterprise”, with its customers opting for iOS due to its security credentials and ease of use.