Apple Intelligence is cleared to launch in China, ending a long regulatory wait and setting up a fall rollout.
China's Cyberspace Administration registered Apple's generative AI service this week, adding it to a list of newly approved providers that includes systems from domestic phone makers. Alibaba's Qwen model will handle the heavy lifting — covering text and image generation across Apple's platforms for Chinese users — while Baidu plays a smaller supporting role, an arrangement first reported in February 2025. Apple briefly switched the features on for some Chinese users in March, months before getting official clearance, and a feedback form targeting Chinese users appeared on Apple's site late last year. No launch date has been announced, but approvals like this typically precede a rollout by a few months, pointing squarely at Apple's fall software cycle.
The timing matters because Apple's iPhone sales in China rose 24.4 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, making it the fastest-growing smartphone brand in a market that was otherwise contracting. A functional AI layer could help defend that position — but Apple is still chasing domestic rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi that baked AI features into their phones well before Cupertino showed up to the party.
Worth noting: the AI powering "Apple Intelligence" in China will be built and operated by Alibaba, a company with its own relationship with Chinese regulators. That is a different proposition than the on-device, privacy-first pitch Apple makes in other markets.