Apple Intelligence in China: Qwen, features and dates.

Apple Intelligence is coming to China. On 31 October 2026 Apple announced on its China newsroom↗ (opens in a new tab) that the first Apple Intelligence features will reach iPhone users in mainland China, and that it has partnered with Alibaba to bring Qwen into Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. Testing starts on 4 November with the latest iOS developer beta, and the public rollout follows with iOS 27.3 in December. Here is what Apple and Alibaba have confirmed, what is left out, and which iPhones qualify.

What Apple announced for Apple Intelligence in China

Apple says the first wave of Apple Intelligence in China is powered by generative models that Apple built itself, with Alibaba’s Qwen added as an extra option inside some experiences. In other words, Qwen extends Apple’s own features rather than replacing them. Apple frames the launch as the first core Apple Intelligence features for users in China, with support for other platforms coming only after the necessary approvals.

The timeline Apple gave is short: the features open for testing from 4 November 2026 in the latest iOS developer beta, and they launch for users in China with the official iOS 27.3 release in December. Apple did not give an exact December date. MacRumors notes that 4 November in China likely means 3 November in the US because of the time difference.

How Qwen works inside Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence

According to Apple, the Alibaba partnership lets users in China use Qwen directly in three places, including for text and image understanding:

• Siri: for certain requests, Siri can call on Qwen’s broad knowledge. Users can also ask questions about photos and about documents, including PDFs and presentations.
• Writing Tools: a create feature lets Qwen write original content from scratch anywhere Writing Tools appear in the system. Alibaba calls this “Compose with Qwen” and, according to IT之家’s report on Alibaba’s announcement, users can also use it to generate images.
• Visual Intelligence: Alibaba says users can choose “Ask Qwen” to identify what the iPhone camera sees, opening Visual Intelligence from Camera Control, the Action button or Control Center.

To use Qwen, Apple says people sign in with their Qwen account or use Sign in with Apple. If you have used the ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence elsewhere, The Verge↗ (opens in a new tab) describes the Qwen setup as sounding similar. You can learn more about Alibaba’s assistant on our Qwen tool page.

Privacy: what Alibaba says it will and won’t do

Alibaba says the Qwen integration is opt-in: users decide whether to turn it on, when to use Qwen and what information to share. According to Alibaba’s announcement, as reported by IT之家 and Xinhua, users are asked for consent before any question, document or image is sent to Qwen, and Alibaba says it will not use user requests or the generated responses to train its models.

The full list of first Apple Intelligence features in China

Beyond Qwen, Apple lists these features for supported iPhones in China:

• Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone, plus in-person translation with supported AirPods.
• Writing Tools to rewrite, proofread and summarize text.
• Visual Intelligence to learn about objects and places through the iPhone camera.
• Clean Up in Photos to remove distracting objects.
• Genmoji to create new emoji from a text description.
• Natural-language search in Photos, and Memory movies made from a typed description.
• Priority Mail, email summaries and Smart Reply in Mail and Messages.
• Notification summaries, Priority Notifications and the Reduce Interruptions Focus.
• Audio transcription summaries in Notes and summaries of call transcripts.
• Type to Siri, with Siri better at following stumbles in speech and keeping context between requests.

What’s not included: Siri AI and WWDC 2026 features

Apple says this update does not include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features it announced at WWDC 2026. So users in China get the earlier generation of Apple Intelligence plus the Qwen integration, not the rebuilt Siri. MacRumors↗ (opens in a new tab) also reports that Image Playground will not be available in China.

The first release is iPhone only. Apple says Mac, iPad and other platforms will follow once the necessary approvals are in place, and it has not given a date for them.

Which iPhones support Apple Intelligence in China?

Apple’s footnotes list the supported devices for the first features with iOS 27.3:

• iPhone 16 and later
• iPhone Duo
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max

Siri and the device language must be set to a supported language, English or Simplified Chinese. Live Translation with AirPods works with AirPods 5, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2 and later, or AirPods Max 2, on the latest firmware and paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone. Alibaba adds that the Qwen features are offered on iOS to people who bought an Apple Intelligence-capable iPhone in China, or whose device location and Apple Account country or region are both set to China.

How to try it

1. Use a supported iPhone with Siri and the device language set to English or Simplified Chinese.
2. Install the latest iOS developer beta once testing opens on 4 November 2026, or wait for the public iOS 27.3 release in December.
3. To use Qwen, opt in and sign in with a Qwen account or with Sign in with Apple, then call it from Siri, Writing Tools or Visual Intelligence.

Why this matters for AI builders

Apple pairing its own generative models with a third-party assistant in one market shows a pattern worth watching: the platform supplies the everyday features, and a partner model handles broad knowledge and open-ended creation. For people who build with AI, it also puts Qwen in front of iPhone users across China. To see what creators are making with today’s newest models, browse the latest builds and the blog.