Apple AI Arrives in China: New Siri Not Available Yet, Notification Summary and Photo Object Removal Launch First

Apple has scheduled the official debut of Apple Intelligence in China alongside the iOS 27.3 update. The beta version will be pushed out on November 4, followed by the full public release in December. The news was first announced on Apple China's official Newsroom, and has been covered by both MacRumors and The Verge.

Image: Allison Johnson / The Verge

This first batch of features does not include the new AI-powered Siri. The set of capabilities arriving first for Chinese users are tools Apple has already rolled out in markets including the U.S.: Notification Summary, Live Translation, Rewrite and Proofreading tools, Visual Intelligence, and the function that removes unwanted objects from photos.

Apple also mentioned its partnership with Alibaba to add support for Alibaba's Q-series models for select features. The press release did not share additional technical details, nor clarify which features will call on this Alibaba model. For developers, this indicates the model layer of the China-exclusive Apple Intelligence may not be fully identical to that of the overseas version. For regular users, the most direct change is that these system-level AI features will show up in Settings and corresponding native apps, but the redesigned Siri will still require extra waiting time.

The release timeline also deserves attention: the beta-first rollout usually means further adjustments will be made before the official stable launch. The build available to install on November 4 does not represent the final form in terms of functionality and stability. Apple has not released the differences between the Chinese version and overseas version of these features in data routing and privacy processing, and relevant explanations will be provided at a later date.

Source: The Verge, Apple China Official Newsroom, MacRumors.