Apple Intelligence Is Coming to China With Alibaba's Qwen: Features, iOS 27.3 Dates, iPhones and the Catch
On October 31, 2026, Apple confirmed that the first Apple Intelligence features are coming to iPhone users in mainland China, with Alibaba's Qwen built into Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence. Testing starts November 4 in the iOS developer beta and the public launch comes with iOS 27.3 in December. Here is every feature, how the Qwen hand-off works, which iPhones qualify and what is still missing.
What Apple announced on October 31, 2026
On October 31, 2026, Apple published a press release on its China Newsroom confirming that the first Apple Intelligence features are coming to iPhone users in mainland China. Apple says the core features are powered by generative models built by Apple, and that it has partnered with Alibaba so users can reach Qwen (千问) directly inside Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, including text and image understanding. This page is the long-form briefing behind the BSH Technologies Instagram carousel.
The key dates
- November 4, 2026: the features open for testing in the latest iOS developer beta. 9to5Mac reports this is the iOS 27.3 beta.
- December 2026: Apple Intelligence launches for users in China when iOS 27.3 is officially released.
- Other platforms: support for other Apple platforms will follow "after the necessary approvals are obtained", so this first release is iPhone only.
How Qwen fits into Apple Intelligence
Qwen plays the role that ChatGPT plays in Apple Intelligence elsewhere: an optional outside model for requests that need broad world knowledge.
- Siri: for certain requests, Siri can call on Qwen's knowledge and answer inside Siri. You can also ask Qwen about photos and documents, including PDFs and presentations.
- Writing Tools: a Compose feature ("千问创作", Compose with Qwen) lets Qwen write original content from scratch anywhere Writing Tools works.
- Visual Intelligence: Qwen adds text and image understanding to what you point the camera at.
- Sign-in: you access Qwen by signing in with a Qwen account or with Sign in with Apple.
In a statement carried by Xinhua Finance, Alibaba said the Qwen integration is opt-in, that users are asked for permission before any question, document or image is sent to Qwen, and that requests and generated responses will not be used by Alibaba to train its models. Alibaba also said the integration is for users who bought a supported iPhone in China, or whose device location and Apple Account country or region are set to China.
Every feature in the first wave
Communication
- Live Translation built into Messages, FaceTime and the Phone app, plus in-person translation through supported AirPods.
- Smart Reply suggestions in Mail and Messages.
- Call transcript summaries in the Phone app, and automatic audio transcription summaries in Notes.
Writing and seeing
- Writing Tools to rewrite, proofread and summarize text.
- Visual Intelligence to learn about objects and places around you through the iPhone camera.
Photos and expression
- Clean Up removes distracting objects from photos.
- Genmoji creates custom emoji from a text description.
- Natural-language search in Photos, and Memory movies created from a description.
Mail, notifications and focus
- Priority Mail surfaces urgent emails, like a same-day lunch invite or a boarding pass, at the top of the inbox.
- Email summaries of a message or long thread with one tap.
- Notification summaries and priority notifications on the Lock Screen.
- A Reduce Interruptions Focus that only lets through notifications that need attention now.
Siri
- Type to Siri, with Siri following along even if you stumble over your words and keeping context across follow-up requests.
Which iPhones and AirPods are supported
- iPhone: iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo.
- Language: Siri and the device language must be set to English or Simplified Chinese.
- AirPods for Live Translation: AirPods 5, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2 and later, or AirPods Max 2, on the latest firmware and paired with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone.
Apple has been building toward this for a while. See our coverage of Apple's HomeView hub and Siri AI and macOS Full Disk Access for AI agents.
The catch
- No Siri AI. Apple says this update does not include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2026. China gets the core feature set first.
- iPhone only. iPad, Mac and other platforms will follow only after the necessary approvals.
- Qwen needs an account and consent. The Qwen features are optional and require signing in.
- Some features may be limited to certain languages or regions, according to Apple's footnotes.
For more on the wider AI race this fits into, read our roundup of 18 AI launches in one month, our look at Google's Gemini 4 Carbon, and the new robots.txt AI training opt-out.
Sources
- Apple Newsroom (China): Apple 智能即将登陆中国 (Apple Intelligence is coming to China), Oct 31, 2026
- Xinhua Finance (cnfin.com): Alibaba and Apple partner to integrate Qwen into Apple Intelligence
- 9to5Mac: Apple confirms iOS 27.3 beta is coming next week with Apple Intelligence in China
- IT之家 (IT Home) coverage
Frequently asked questions
When is Apple Intelligence coming to China?
Apple says the first features open for testing on November 4, 2026 in the latest iOS developer beta and launch for users in China with iOS 27.3 in December 2026.
What does Alibaba's Qwen do in Apple Intelligence?
For certain requests Siri can call on Qwen, and users can ask Qwen about photos and documents such as PDFs and presentations. Qwen also powers a Compose feature in Writing Tools and adds text and image understanding to Visual Intelligence. Users sign in with a Qwen account or Sign in with Apple.
Does Alibaba train on my Qwen requests?
Alibaba said in a statement reported by Xinhua Finance that requests and generated responses will not be used by Alibaba for model training, and that permission is requested before anything is sent to Qwen.
Which iPhones support Apple Intelligence in China?
iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo, with Siri and the device language set to English or Simplified Chinese.
Is Siri AI included?
No. Apple says this update does not include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2026.
From the blog
View all posts
One robots.txt Line to Opt Out of AI Training: OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic Back __usage_ai-training
On October 30, 2026, OpenAI, Google and Microsoft said they will honor a shared robots.txt token, __usage_ai-training, drafted at the IETF by Anthropic's Kevin Kelley. One group in robots.txt can now tell every participating AI lab not to train on your site. Here is the exact syntax, each company's timeline, Bing's new grounding controls and what the token cannot do.
Mistral Large 4 "Le Chonk" Goes Open Weight: 1T Parameters, Top Open Coder, Built for Cyber Defense
On October 29, 2026, Mistral released the weights of Mistral Large 4 (Le Chonk), its 1-trillion-parameter flagship. It leads open models on FrontierCode 2.0 (19.7%) and Terminal-Bench 4.0 (41%), matches GLM-5.3 on the AA Coding Agent Index with 47% fewer tokens, and refuses 96.6% of malicious cyber requests. Here are the specs, scores, licence, hardware and the catch.