Apple’s China AI Finally Lands in Alibaba’s Hands

Apple has handed Apple Intelligence in China to Alibaba. On October 31, China Daily reported and confirmed that the Qwen model will be deeply integrated into Apple’s systems, covering Siri, writing tools, and visual intelligence features.

The timeline is as follows: on November 4, Qwen-powered features will appear in the latest iOS developer beta for testing. In December, they will be officially rolled out to Chinese users with iOS 27.3.

What exactly can users do? For some requests, Siri will directly call on Qwen’s knowledge base to answer. Users can also ask questions about selected photos and documents, including PDFs and presentations. Writing tools gain a “Compose with Qwen” option: enter a prompt and it can generate text and images. In Visual Intelligence, when the camera recognizes an object or place, there will be an additional “Ask Qwen” option.

On privacy, Apple says users will be asked whether they allow their questions, documents, or images to be sent to Qwen. Users can decide for themselves whether to enable it, and they can sign in with an Apple account or an existing Qwen account. Alibaba says requests and responses generated through this integration will not be used to train its own models.

The regulatory hurdle was cleared in July. The Cyberspace Administration of China registered Apple’s on-device generative AI service, allowing it to be used on iPhone. At the time, Alibaba said Qwen would come to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS in China.

But the December update is not a full rollout. Apple made clear that the initial release will not include more advanced Siri AI capabilities, nor the next-generation Apple Intelligence features showcased at this year’s WWDC. Basic features will be available: translation, photo object removal, notification and email summaries, smart replies, text rewriting, and proofreading.

Device requirements are also spelled out: support for iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later models, iPhone Air, and iPhone Duo, with the device language and Siri language set to English or Simplified Chinese.

More than two years have passed since Apple Intelligence first launched, and Chinese users are only now getting this entry point. The engine is Qwen, not Apple’s own model.

Source: China Daily, https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202610/31/WS6ae54463e4b06d4aa0566359.html