Apple Intelligence comes to China with Alibaba’s Qwen

Apple says the first Apple Intelligence features are coming to iPhone users in China, and that it has partnered with Alibaba to add support for Alibaba’s Qwen to some of those experiences. In a Chinese-language release on its China Newsroom, Apple said the features will open for testing “starting Nov. 4 with the latest iOS developer beta” and will launch for users in China “with the official release of iOS 27.3 in December,” translated from Chinese. Apple did not give a December date. The release is dated Oct. 31 on Apple’s China site; we did not find an English version on Apple’s global Newsroom.

What’s included: Apple lists Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone; Writing Tools for rewriting, proofreading and summarizing; Visual Intelligence; Clean Up in Photos; Genmoji; natural-language search and memory movies in Photos; Priority Messages and summaries in Mail; Smart Reply in Mail and Messages; notification summaries; Priority Notifications; the Reduce Interruptions Focus; summaries of audio transcriptions in Notes and of call transcriptions; and Type to Siri. Apple says Live Translation also works for in-person conversations with AirPods 5, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2 and later, and AirPods Max 2. Apple says these features are powered by “generative models built by Apple,” translated from Chinese.

Where Qwen comes in: Apple says users in China can use Alibaba’s Qwen directly in Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, including for text and image understanding. For certain requests, Apple said, “Siri can tap into Qwen, using its broad knowledge to help users,” translated from Chinese. Apple says users can also ask questions about photos and about documents, including PDFs and presentations. A Compose function lets Qwen create original content “from scratch” inside systemwide Writing Tools. Apple says users get access by signing in to a Qwen account or with Sign in with Apple.

What’s not included: “This update does not include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features Apple announced at WWDC 2026,” Apple said in the release, translated from Chinese.

Who gets it: The release says the features will come to iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Duo, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone Air. Apple’s China release footnote says Siri and device language must be set to English and Simplified Chinese, while Apple’s China Apple Intelligence product page says Simplified Chinese or English. Apple says support for other platforms will come after the necessary approvals are obtained.

Our read: Apple has not built one assistant for every market. The release describes features powered by Apple’s own generative models, with a slot for outside knowledge that Alibaba’s Qwen fills in China. Apple’s product page describes Qwen as something users can “choose” to extend certain features, translated from Chinese. That makes the partner arrangement part of how Siri answers some broad questions there, and it raises practical questions for users: which requests go to Qwen, what is shared with it when someone signs in with a Qwen account, and how answers are labeled. Apple’s product page says that when users use Apple Intelligence, no one else can access their data, “not even Apple,” translated from Chinese; how that applies to requests handed to Qwen is something to check in the beta. The release is also explicit that Siri AI, Apple’s WWDC 2026 headline, is left out, and that platforms beyond iPhone wait on approvals. China gets an earlier generation of Apple Intelligence first.

What’s next: Apple says testing begins Nov. 4 with the latest iOS developer beta, and the public release comes with iOS 27.3 in December. We’ll check Apple’s developer and support notes when the beta posts.

Sources: Apple (China): Apple 智能即将登陆中国 (Apple Intelligence is coming to China) (Oct. 31, 2026); Apple (China): Apple 智能 (Apple Intelligence product page) (undated)