Apple Plans December China Launch for Apple Intelligence on Alibaba Models, Bloomberg Reports

If Bloomberg's sources are right, China gets Apple Intelligence on government-approvable models and without the new Siri. Apple plans to launch Apple Intelligence in mainland China in December as part of iOS 27.3, Bloomberg reported on October 14, according to 9to5Mac and TechNode, which relayed the report.

What Bloomberg reports

The initial rollout would include writing tools, notification summaries, Genmoji and the Clean Up feature in Photos, and exclude the new Siri AI assistant and Apple's in-house image-generation tools, according to the relays. The China version uses Alibaba's Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models, with guardrails developed with Alibaba that include "a filter that allows the government to approve ongoing updates to the AI models," Bloomberg wrote, as quoted by 9to5Mac. Apple is also working with Baidu on search and Siri features, and received Chinese permits on September 29 for recent iPhones to support Apple Intelligence and the Alibaba models, Bloomberg reported.

When Apple launched its Siri AI beta in September, it said China was delayed.

Limits

• This rests on a single origin: Bloomberg's report, which was not read directly. 9to5Mac and TechNode both relay it and are not independent of each other. Apple has not announced a China date.

Sources

• 9to5Mac: Apple Intelligence reportedly coming to China in December, but without Siri AI (October 14, 2026)
• TechNode: Apple reportedly plans December China launch for Apple Intelligence using Alibaba models (October 15, 2026)
• Times of AI: Apple begins Siri AI English beta with EU and China restrictions (September 14, 2026)