Apple will open developer testing of selected Apple Intelligence features in China on Nov. 4, with a consumer release planned for December, expanding access through Alibaba’s Qwen model.
Apple’s planned China features include Visual Intelligence, Live Translation and Writing Tools, alongside the Photos app’s Clean Up tool for removing distracting objects. The Photos app will also let users search for photos and videos using natural language.
Alibaba’s Qwen will provide selected functions in Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence, Apple said. The China release will not include Siri AI or other next-generation features the company announced at WWDC 2026.
Apple lists iPhone 16 and later models, iPhone Duo, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPhone Air as supported devices. Siri and the device language must be set to the same supported language: English or Simplified Chinese, according to Apple’s support guidance.
Apple said availability on other platforms will follow after the necessary approvals. Developer testing is scheduled to start Nov. 4.
