Apple Intelligence finally coming to China in December with iOS 27.3
David Joseppi
Posted On 31/10/2026 
Apple has officially confirmed that Apple Intelligence is coming to users in China, with the first wave of features set to launch publicly in December as part of iOS 27.3.
In an announcement on its Chinese Newsroom, Apple said testing will begin on November 4 with the latest iOS developer beta before the features roll out to users in China with the public release of iOS 27.3. Support for other Apple platforms will follow once the necessary approvals are obtained.
The initial rollout includes Live Translation, Writing Tools, Visual Intelligence, Clean Up in Photos, Genmoji, natural-language photo search, Memory Movie creation, Priority Mail, email summaries, Smart Reply, notification summaries, Priority Notifications, Reduce Interruptions, audio transcription summaries, call summaries, and Type to Siri.
Apple Intelligence in China will use Alibaba’s Qwen
Apple has also confirmed its partnership with Alibaba, with Qwen integrated into selected Apple Intelligence experiences in China. Qwen will be accessible through Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence for tasks including text and image understanding, answering questions about photos and documents, and creating original content through Writing Tools.
The announcement confirms details that had previously only been reported. Alibaba confirmed its Apple partnership in February 2025, while The Apple Post reported earlier this month that Apple was targeting a December launch with iOS 27.3.
Siri AI is not included
Despite the broader Apple Intelligence rollout, Apple says Siri AI and the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC26 are not included in this first release for China.
That means users will receive the earlier generation of Apple Intelligence capabilities alongside Qwen integration, but not the completely rebuilt Siri AI experience with deeper personal context, onscreen awareness, and broader system actions. For a wider look at Apple’s AI platform, The Apple Post has a full Apple Intelligence guide here.
Which iPhones will support Apple Intelligence in China?
Apple says the first Apple Intelligence features in China will work on iPhone 16 models and later, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone Air, and iPhone Duo. Siri and the device language must be set to a supported language, with English and Simplified Chinese included at launch.
The December release marks a major expansion for Apple Intelligence after regulatory requirements kept the platform unavailable in mainland China following its original introduction in 2024.
