Bloomberg reports that Apple plans to launch Apple Intelligence in China in December, although some important features could still be missing. The launch is reportedly tied to an upcoming iOS 27.3 update and will exclude the new Siri AI assistant and other features announced this year, according to the publication's sources.
The move follows a lengthy and complicated effort to bring Apple Intelligence to China, where local regulations governing AI-generated content, security assessments, and algorithm registration have forced Apple to take a different approach than in other markets. To gain approval, the company made concessions, including guardrails developed with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and a filter that lets the government approve ongoing updates to the AI models. Apple is also working with Baidu Inc. on search- and Siri-related features. On Sept. 29, Apple received Chinese permits allowing recent iPhones to support Apple Intelligence and Alibaba AI models, including Tongyi Wanxiang and Qwen.
The launch will not feature Apple's in-house image-generation tools, and certain text-generation features will be limited in some applications. The initial rollout is expected to include Genmoji, AI-powered notification summaries, writing tools, and the Clean Up feature in Photos, which removes unwanted objects from images.
It remains unclear whether these features will be enough to win over Chinese consumers. Local smartphone makers including Huawei Technologies Co., Xiaomi Corp., Oppo, and Vivo already offer their own AI capabilities, raising questions about how much Apple will benefit from launching a two-year-old set of relatively basic AI features in the country.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing