China’s Cyberspace Administration (CAC) officially approved Apple Intelligence AI services for iPhones in China on July 15, allowing Apple to launch its generative AI features after a two-year delay caused by regulatory and adaptation hurdles [1, 2, 3, 4].
The approved version of Apple Intelligence integrates Alibaba’s Qwen AI model and Baidu’s AI technology to meet Chinese regulations. Alibaba confirmed Qwen will power AI experiences in Apple’s iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS platforms for users in China. An Alibaba spokesperson said, "Qwen will be integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences within iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS for users in China," adding that the integrations include "text and image understanding and generation" capabilities [5, 3].
Apple had to modify its AI system by incorporating Alibaba’s AI as a filter aligned with government requirements on large language models. Alibaba’s Qwen model, originally a 54 GB AI system with 27 billion parameters, was compressed by startup PrismML to under 4 GB to run efficiently on iPhone 15 or newer devices, enabling on-device AI processing [5, 2].
Baidu also confirmed its involvement in developing Apple Intelligence features for Chinese users, though its exact role remains less defined [6, 4].
Apple Intelligence’s functions include summarizing emails, drafting reports, image editing, and AI-based text and image generation. The approval covers Apple’s full range of operating systems available on Apple devices in China, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS [1, 5, 2, 3, 6, 4].
Apple first launched Apple Intelligence globally in 2024 but faced a two-year regulatory delay to clear China’s stringent AI rules. The company’s sales in Greater China grew 28% to $20.5 billion in Q2 2026 as Apple recently regained the No. 2 smartphone position in the Chinese market [2, 3, 6].
Apple has not announced a specific release date for Apple Intelligence features in China following the regulatory approval. Additionally, Apple’s revamped Siri AI, powered by Apple Intelligence, still requires further government approval before rollout in the country [2, 4].
