Apple said on October 31 that a first batch of Apple Intelligence features will ship in China with iOS 27.3 in December, with developer beta testing starting November 4, according to a PoYo AI summary of Apple’s China newsroom post.
Chinese users will be able to use Alibaba’s Qwen inside Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, alongside Apple’s own models, signing in with a Qwen account or Sign in with Apple.
The first release is limited. It does not include Siri AI or the next-generation Apple Intelligence announced at WWDC 2026.
Regulators have been part of the timeline. MacTrast, compiling Bloomberg and South China Morning Post reports, said China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently granted Apple network access permits for Alibaba’s Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models, and that Apple will need further approval for ongoing model updates.
The rollout is a template for how foreign AI reaches China: a local-partner model, local sign-in and a limited first feature set.
