Apple's AI features are finally getting a date in China. In a press release posted on its China Newsroom on October 31, 2026, Apple said the first set of Apple Intelligence features for users in mainland China will open for testing with the latest iOS developer beta starting November 4, and will reach the public when iOS 27.3 is released in December. Apple did not give an exact December date.
The first wave is made up of Apple Intelligence features that users elsewhere have had for some time, running on Apple's own generative models. Apple lists Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime and the Phone app (and face-to-face translation through supported AirPods), Writing Tools for rewriting, proofreading and summarizing text, Visual Intelligence through the iPhone camera, Clean Up in Photos, Genmoji, natural-language photo search, memory movies created from a description, Priority Mail and Mail summaries, Smart Reply, notification summaries, Priority Notifications, the Reduce Interruptions focus, audio transcription summaries in Notes, call transcript summaries, and Type to Siri.
The new piece is a partnership with Alibaba. Apple says Siri will be able to call on Alibaba's Qwen model for certain requests, and users will be able to ask questions about photos and documents, including PDFs and presentations. Qwen is also coming to Writing Tools through a Create function that writes original content from scratch, and to Visual Intelligence, including text and image understanding. Users get to Qwen by signing in with a Qwen account or with Sign in with Apple. The arrangement resembles the optional ChatGPT integration Apple offers in other markets, with a locally developed model in that role.
Just as notable is what is missing. Apple says the update does not include Siri AI or the other next-generation Apple Intelligence features it announced at WWDC 2026. The launch covers iPhone only: Apple says support for its other platforms will follow "after obtaining the necessary approvals."
Hardware and language requirements are strict. Apple says the features will work on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16 and later, iPhone Air and iPhone Duo, and that both Siri and the device language must be set to English or Simplified Chinese.
The announcement ends a long wait. As 9to5Mac recounts, Reuters reported in July that Apple Intelligence had cleared a major regulatory hurdle in China after repeated delays, and Bloomberg reported in October that a December launch with iOS 27.3 was planned. The South China Morning Post describes the move as ending two years of regulatory uncertainty in Apple's second-largest market, and counts around 18 features in the initial rollout.
For iPhone owners in China, December brings the core Apple Intelligence toolkit plus a domestic model for open-ended questions. Whether Apple's most advanced features, including Siri AI, follow, and when, will depend on further approvals and on decisions Apple has not yet announced.