Key points
- Apple Intelligence arrives on iPhones in China in December
- Alibaba's Qwen will be available through Siri and other tools
- The launch excludes Apple's next-generation Siri AI
Apple (AAPL) plans to bring Apple Intelligence to iPhone users in China in December, with help from Alibaba's (BABA) Qwen AI model.
The features will arrive with iOS 27.3, Apple said in an October 31 announcement. Testing begins November 4 in the latest iOS developer beta. Support for Apple's other platforms will follow once the company receives the necessary approvals.
Where Qwen fits in
Apple says users in China will be able to access Qwen through Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence. Siri can turn to Qwen for certain requests. Users can also ask questions about photos and documents, including PDFs and presentations. In Writing Tools, Qwen can also generate original text.
Users can sign in with a Qwen account or use Sign in with Apple. The rest of Apple Intelligence runs on generative models developed by Apple, the company said.
The China launch leaves out Siri AI
The update doesn't include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features Apple announced at WWDC 2026. Siri AI is the new version of Apple's voice assistant. Apple doesn't offer Siri AI in the EU either, as the company said when launching its HomeView hub on October 13.
The first features for China include Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, and Phone; Writing Tools; Visual Intelligence; Clean Up in Photos; Genmoji; priority emails in Mail; email and notification summaries; and typing to Siri. Live Translation also works for in-person conversations through supported AirPods models.
The features will run on the iPhone 16 and later models, iPhone Duo, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone Air. Siri and the device language must be set to English or Simplified Chinese.
The Pentagon added Apple's partner to its military-company list in June
The Defense Department added Alibaba to its list of Chinese military companies on June 8, a designation cited in a shareholder suit against Alibaba. Apple's release doesn't mention the listing or say whether it has any bearing on the partnership or the China launch.
Apple shares fell 1.2% to close at $344.63 on October 30, and Alibaba's US-listed shares fell 1.5% to $98.04. US markets reopen on November 2.
