Apple Intelligence to roll out on iPhones in China in December with Alibaba backing

Apple’s long-awaited artificial intelligence features will be officially launched in China in December, ending two years of regulatory uncertainty as the US tech giant seeks to bring advanced technologies to its second-largest market with the help of Alibaba Group Holding.

The first batch of Apple Intelligence services will roll out to Chinese iPhone users alongside the iOS 27.3 update in December, following an open beta test with developers starting November 4, the US company said in a statement on Saturday.

The initial roll-out will include around 18 new features provided by Apple Intelligence, including writing tools for summarising and proofreading, live translation for phone calls and messages, as well as visual intelligence via camera controls, according to the statement.

However, Chinese users will not have the same access as those in many international markets, as Apple noted that its latest Siri AI capabilities and other next-generation AI services, launched by the company in September, would be excluded from this initial release. Siri is the virtual assistant across Apple’s ecosystem.

The statement did not specify when Apple Intelligence would be available to users of other Apple devices in China.

Notably, Alibaba’s flagship AI model Qwen will be integrated into Apple Intelligence through a partnership between the two firms that allows users to prompt Qwen for text generation, image creation, as well as photo or document analysis via Siri.

“We are delighted to cooperate with Apple,” said Eddie Wu Yongming, chief executive officer of Alibaba, in a statement on Saturday. “Qwen will draw on Alibaba’s deep AI technology stack to deeply integrate into the Apple ecosystem, jointly delivering entirely new intelligent experiences for Apple users in China.”

Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

The launch came after Apple faced years of regulatory headwinds in bringing its AI services to its second-largest market. While Apple Intelligence was launched in the US and other international markets in 2024, China’s cyberspace rules require generative AI models deployed in the country to pass rigorous safety reviews by the country’s internet watchdog.

In July, Chinese regulators granted Apple the long-awaited licence to roll out AI services on iPhones in the country, alongside six other smartphone-based AI services, including those for Samsung Electronics and Huawei Technologies.