Apple Intelligence may be closer to reaching supported iPhones in mainland China. The country has reportedly approved Alibaba AI models for the system, though Apple has yet to roll it out there.
The South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba Group, reports that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology approved Tongyi Qianwen, a group of large language models better known as Qwen. The approval also covers Tongyi Wanxiang, Alibaba’s AI image and video generation tool.
Apple received clearance to introduce Apple Intelligence on the Chinese mainland in July, according to the report. It has not launched the system there yet. The updated regulatory filings include network access permits for the iPhone Duo and iPhone 18 Pro.
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Much of Apple Intelligence is already available in Hong Kong. On the mainland, China’s AI and privacy laws have complicated its introduction. A launch now would come almost two years after Apple Intelligence debuted in the US, where Apple has worked with Google and OpenAI to train its models and handle complex questions.
Reports that Apple was seeking Chinese AI partners first emerged in early 2025, with Alibaba named at the time. This summer, it was confirmed that Qwen would be central to Apple Intelligence on compatible iPhone, iPad, Mac and Vision Pro models sold to customers in China.
The iPhone Duo launches in China next week
The next scheduled milestone is the iPhone Duo’s launch in China next week. Its flagship software features include the new and improved Siri AI.
