Apple Confirms China Launch: Alibaba Qwen Joins Apple Intelligence

IT Home reported on October 31 that Apple announced today (October 31) it will roll out the iOS 27.3 update, which introduces the first batch of core Apple Intelligence features in China. The update is scheduled for beta testing on November 4 and official release in December, targeting users of devices such as the iPhone 18 Pro.

Citing an official press release, IT Home noted that Apple has confirmed it will use Alibaba’s Qwen model across three key Apple Intelligence experiences: Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence. This integration covers capabilities related to text and image understanding.

Regarding Siri, Apple stated that Qwen will be accessed when "handling specific requests," leveraging its knowledge base to assist users. Users can also ask questions about photos and documents containing PDFs and presentations.

In terms of account experience, Apple’s official website states: "Users can seamlessly access Qwen within Apple Intelligence by simply logging into their Qwen account or using Sign in with Apple."

The experience should be similar to the integration with ChatGPT. Without logging in, users can utilize ChatGPT extensions to handle queries, writing tasks, and image/file requests; OpenAI does not receive information associated with the Apple ID, nor does it save requests or responses, or use them to train models.

After logging in, relevant requests can be saved to the ChatGPT history, and users can access features provided by their subscription plan. In this case, the user’s ChatGPT account settings and OpenAI’s privacy policy apply.

For the "Compose" feature in Writing Tools, Apple indicated that users can leverage Qwen within system-wide Writing Tools to "create original content from scratch."

In Visual Intelligence, Chinese users can utilize Qwen for capabilities involving text and image understanding. This includes understanding and answering questions about surrounding objects and locations through the camera.