Apple Intelligence Launches in China on iOS 27.3 with Alibaba Qwen Integration
Apple has officially enabled 'Apple Intelligence and Siri' for mainland China users via the iOS 27.3 developer beta on iPhone 15 Pro and newer models. The update integrates Alibaba's Qwen LLM directly into the system, supporting features like real-time translation, writing tools, and visual intelligence without requiring separate app launches.
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IT Home reported on November 4 that Apple has released the latest iOS 27.3 Developer Beta for iPhone.
In hands-on testing by IT Home, the Mainland China version of "Apple Intelligence and Siri" launched as expected in the latest iOS 27.3 Developer Beta. Users can find the feature settings page in Settings after updating to the latest iOS system.
As previously reported by IT Home, Apple Intelligence for Mainland China has partnered with Alibaba, integrating Qwen (Tongyi Qianwen) into certain experiences. Domestic users can directly invoke Qwen within Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence, covering capabilities related to text and image understanding.
Apple users can access Qwen within the system without switching to a standalone app by logging in with their Qwen account or using "Sign in with Apple." Alibaba had previously confirmed that the integration of Qwen would extend to iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS.
The features initially opened to Chinese users focus on basic, high-frequency scenarios. Real-time translation is integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and Phone apps, supporting face-to-face conversation translation on AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 and later models. Writing Tools offer rewriting, proofreading, and summarization; Visual Intelligence identifies surrounding objects and places via the camera; and the Clean Up tool in the Photos app can remove distracting elements from images.
Additionally, Apple's official website for China lists compatible devices for Apple Intelligence, noting that all iPhone 15 Pro and newer models support it.
