Apple Intelligence Coming to China in December With iOS 27.3

Wednesday October 14, 2026 1:24 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple plans to bring Apple Intelligence to China in iOS 27.3 after two years of regulatory delays, reports Bloomberg. The launch will include basic ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features for things like photo editing, but Siri AI won't be available. Image Playground and the newer version of Genmoji will be missing, plus text generation tools will be limited.

The South China Morning Post today reported that China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently gave Apple network access permits to add Alibaba's Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models to the iPhone Duo, iPhone 18 Pro, and earlier iPhones, paving the way for an ‌Apple Intelligence‌ debut.

Apple introduced the first ‌Apple Intelligence‌ features in iOS 18.1, but they have been missing from China since launch. Apple received initial clearance to launch ‌Apple Intelligence‌ in China in July, but needed additional clearance for a consumer launch.

China restricts foreign AI technology, which meant Apple had to partner with Alibaba and Baidu to launch ‌Apple Intelligence‌ in the country. Apple also has to allow the Chinese government to approve ongoing updates to the AI models.

Competing smartphone makers in China like Huawei have long offered artificial intelligence features, and Apple has been at a disadvantage without comparable tools.

iOS 27.3 is expected in December.

Note: This discussion thread is located in our Political News forum with special rules.

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