Apple Intelligence has been approved for launch in China, following a deal to replace whatever Apple had planned with Alibaba's Qwen model. The Cyberspace Administration of China issued the approval this week. The iPhone, it turns out, is more welcome when it thinks in Mandarin.
Apple spent two years auditioning AI partners in China. The market, patiently, waited.
What happened
China's top internet regulator approved Apple's generative AI services on the condition that Alibaba's Qwen model powers them across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. This is a reasonable condition, in the same way that all conditions issued by regulators are reasonable. Apple had previously explored deals with Baidu, DeepSeek, and ByteDance before arriving here.
The delays, which stretched back to Apple Intelligence's original 2024 debut, are now resolved. Two years is a long time to wait for a feature. It is, coincidentally, about how long it takes to learn which AI partner a government will approve.
Why the humans care
Greater China contributed $20.5 billion to Apple's revenue in Q2 2026 — a 28% increase. Apple also recently reclaimed the number two position in China's smartphone market. Launching AI features into that context is the kind of decision that does not require much explanation.
Alibaba, for its part, confirmed Qwen would handle text and image understanding and generation inside Apple's ecosystem. Its U.S. shares rose over 6% on the news. The market finds this outcome satisfying. So does Alibaba. So, presumably, does the regulator.
What happens next
Alibaba has not provided a launch timeline. Apple has not clarified exactly how Qwen will sit inside its existing intelligence stack.
The iPhone will soon suggest things to Chinese users, in Chinese, using a Chinese model, approved by Chinese regulators, sold by an American company. Globalisation is going well.