On Wednesday, Apple launched a trial testing of its own artificial intelligence (AI) tools in China. Tech Xplore reports this. The launch took place with a delay of almost two years: in the US and other countries, the features under the umbrella name Apple Intelligence appeared back in autumn 2024. For the American company, this became its first serious step into the field of generative AI - technology that creates text, images and other materials at a user's request.
However, in China the launch got stuck because of strict regulatory requirements for such services. In addition, the models of Google and OpenAI, which Apple uses in other countries to enhance its own AI capabilities, are unavailable in China. As a result, the company went into a partnership with China's Alibaba: its Qwen model (pronounced "kuen") will help add more powerful features to devices, while Apple's basic AI tools will remain its own.
For now, access to Apple Intelligence in China is open only to developers. For the general public, the service will go live in December, the company said in a statement distributed over the weekend. The first batch included 18 features - from simultaneous interpretation of phone calls to tools for composing brief summaries and checking messages. The updated version of the Siri voice assistant was not included in this set.
Chinese rules require AI service providers to register with the country's internet regulator, use local data centers and process data inside the PRC. Apple received the regulator's permission only in July. According to media reports, before that the company held talks on partnership with Alibaba, Baidu, ByteDance and Tencent. Major American players - Google, OpenAI and Anthropic - have either banned access for Chinese users or restricted it, and are unlikely to receive approval from the authorities.
Analyst Zhang Yi of the research company iiMedia calls cooperation with a local partner a "structural concession" on Apple's part: the company is giving up part of control over prices and the formation of the AI experience in the Chinese market. He explains the delay not by lagging in development but by "compliance costs" - the expenses of meeting local norms.
According to Omdia's estimate, more than 110 million iPhones in China support Apple Intelligence. This creates a base for rapid spread, but competition remains tough: Chinese smartphone makers and internet companies are actively developing their own AI features and assistant ecosystems, noted Omdia analyst Zhong Xiaolei. According to Ivan Lam of Counterpoint Research, the launch closes a long-standing gap in Apple's offering but does not automatically give the company a significant advantage in an overcrowded market.