Apple will bring its first Apple Intelligence features to mainland China in December through iOS 27.3. Apple said testing will begin with an iOS developer beta on November 4. (Apple)
China rollout starts November 4
The first release includes Writing Tools for rewriting, proofreading and summaries; Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and Phone; Visual Intelligence; photo cleanup; Genmoji; priority notifications; and email summaries. Apple also listed transcription and summaries for recordings in the Phone and Notes apps.
The November 4 release is a developer beta for testing. Apple has not announced a specific December release date for iOS 27.3.
Alibaba Qwen supports features
Apple said it is working with Alibaba to add support for the company’s Qwen model to selected Apple Intelligence experiences in China. Users will be able to access Qwen through Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence for text and image understanding. (Apple)
Apple also said users can ask Qwen about photos and documents that contain PDFs or presentations. The announcement says access requires a Qwen account or sign-in with Apple.
Siri AI remains excluded
Apple said the new Siri AI and other next-generation Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2026 will not be included in this release. The company said those features remain unavailable in China while it handles regulatory requirements.
For the initial iPhone rollout, Apple lists the compatible models as iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Duo, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone Air. The announcement also says Siri and the device language must be set to English and Simplified Chinese. (Apple Support)
China launch covers iPhone
Apple said support for other platforms will follow after the necessary approvals. For now, the announcement describes the China release as the first group of Apple Intelligence features for supported iPhones.
References
Apple. (2026, October 31). Apple 智能即将登陆中国. Apple Newsroom. https://www.apple.com.cn/newsroom/2026/10/apple-intelligence-features-are-coming-to-users-in-china/
Apple. (n.d.). 开始使用新一代 Apple Intelligence. Apple Support. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://support.apple.com/zh-cn/121115