Apple sets December debut for Apple Intelligence in China
The launch ends a two-year regulatory delay and pairs Apple with Alibaba and Baidu to meet China's rules on foreign AI services
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Apple plans to bring Apple Intelligence to China in December, giving the country its first access to the company's AI features more than a year after their US debut.
China's Cyberspace Administration has approved the rollout, according to the South China Morning Post, ending a two-year regulatory delay tied to rules that require foreign companies to partner with a local firm to offer AI services. Apple will use Alibaba's Qwen model to power most of the Chinese version, with Baidu handling specific features such as Visual Intelligence, the Post reported. BigGo Finance reported the same arrangement, noting it replaces the Google and OpenAI services Apple uses in the US.
AppleInsider reported that Apple had earlier explored partnerships with Baidu, Tencent, ByteDance and DeepSeek before settling on Alibaba, after Baidu's models reportedly struggled with typical iPhone user queries. eMarketer described China as Apple's second-largest market and said the delay in launching Apple Intelligence there has weighed on the company's position against local rivals. Chief executive Tim Cook has pointed to the missing AI features as a factor in an 11% decline in iPhone sales in China, according to TechCrunch.
The timing follows a separate report that Apple cut production orders for the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max after weaker than expected demand, citing rising memory chip costs. It also comes after months of regulatory friction in India over warranty costs and a trade-secrets lawsuit involving former Apple and OpenAI staff. A working AI rollout in China, Apple's largest overseas smartphone market, gives the company one of the few product-based catalysts to point to, apart from legal and supply-chain issues. Whether it shifts near-term demand depends on how Chinese consumers respond to the features themselves, something the production cuts suggest cannot be taken for granted.