China's Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) approved Apple Intelligence for deployment in the country, clearing the way for Apple to launch its generative AI suite in one of its largest markets after a two-year delay1,8,15.
The CAC on July 15 announced the registration of seven on-device generative AI services for smartphones, with Apple Intelligence among them7. Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. completed the filing procedure on July 8. The registrations were made under China's Interim Measures for the Management of Generative AI Services, which require filing before AI services can be made publicly available.
Alibaba confirmed that its Qwen large language model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence as the underlying AI capability for users of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS in mainland China. Users will be able to access Qwen's text and image understanding and content generation capabilities directly within Apple's operating systems without switching between apps.
Baidu separately confirmed it is working with Apple on developing Apple Intelligence features for Chinese users. Baidu is building an AI-powered search experience as part of the Apple Intelligence suite, enabling image and text understanding while also enhancing Siri with capabilities tailored for the Chinese market6. ANALYSIS Apple is pursuing a multi-partner architecture in China — Alibaba for the core language model layer, Baidu for search and Siri enhancements — rather than relying on a single provider.
Apple is also reportedly exploring integrations with DeepSeek and ByteDance.
In a further development reported on August 14, Reuters cited three unnamed sources saying Apple has trained a large language model specifically for the China market with Alibaba's support9,11. If confirmed, this would mark a departure from Apple's initial strategy of relying entirely on third-party models and would make Apple the first foreign company to offer a proprietary AI model in China, according to Reuters10.
However, the rollout path has shown signs of complexity. On August 8, a Chinese-language Mac support guide mentioning Apple Intelligence integration with Qwen appeared on Apple's website, then disappeared5. Apple customer service told Chinese media that mainland China had not launched an "Apple Intelligence with Qwen" feature and that it had not received notice of a new project launch. Separately, code found in iOS 27 beta 5 points to Apple preparing a mainland China-specific version of Apple Intelligence, with strings indicating user requests would be processed on-device and would not be sent to Apple or the local provider4.
The other six smartphone brands that completed the same CAC filing batch were Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, Samsung, and ZTE. Xiaomi confirmed its self-developed MiMo large model has completed a full model matrix covering language, multimodal, and voice, with MiMo V2.5 officially released in April 2026. OPPO described the filing as a routine compliance action.
The approval addresses a gap that has weighed on Apple's competitive position in China. Apple Intelligence features debuted in 2024 but have been unavailable to Chinese users due to the lack of regulatory clearance. In the second quarter, Apple generated $20.5 billion in sales in Greater China, up 28% from a year earlier, and recently regained the No. 2 position in China's smartphone market. Alibaba chairman Joe Tsai first confirmed the partnership publicly in February 2025 during the World Governments Summit in Dubai.
The new features are widely expected to roll out alongside the official iOS release later this fall. The registrations mean models are approved but do not guarantee all features are immediately available to users.