By Roman Aglaganov
More than two years after launching it elsewhere, Apple is bringing Apple Intelligence to iPhone users in mainland China. In an announcement on its Chinese newsroom on 31 October, Apple said the first features will open for testing in the latest iOS developer beta from 4 November and reach users with iOS 27.3 in December.
What is included
The launch covers most of the familiar set: live translation in Messages, FaceTime and phone calls (and in person through supported AirPods), Writing Tools for rewriting, proofreading and summarising, Visual Intelligence through the camera, Clean Up and natural-language search in Photos, Genmoji, priority messages and summaries in Mail, notification summaries, and call and audio recording summaries. Siri gets typed conversations and better handling of loosely worded requests.
Where Alibaba comes in
Apple says the features use generative models it built itself, but it has also partnered with Alibaba to add Qwen to some experiences, including Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. Siri can hand some requests to Qwen, including questions about photos and documents, and Writing Tools can use Qwen to write new text from scratch. Users sign in with a Qwen account or with Sign in with Apple.
What is missing
The update does not include the new, more personal Siri or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2026, and support for devices other than the iPhone will follow only once approvals are in place. The features need an iPhone 15 Pro or later, with the device and Siri set to a supported language, which includes Simplified Chinese. The announcement does not explain what data is shared with Alibaba when Qwen handles a request, which will be worth watching as testing begins.
