Apple Plans December Launch for Apple Intelligence in China [Report]

Apple is planning to launch Apple Intelligence in mainland China in December with iOS 27.3, according to Bloomberg. The rollout would bring an initial set of AI features to iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but leave out several of the newer capabilities introduced this year.

The first release is expected to include features originally introduced in 2024, such as Writing Tools, notification summaries, Genmoji, and the ability to remove unwanted objects from photos.

Siri AI, rebuilt using Google's Gemini models, will not be part of the launch. Neither will this year's upgraded Writing Tools and Genmoji, photo expansion, or the Siri mode for Visual Intelligence in Camera. Apple executives are not optimistic about bringing the new assistant to China anytime soon.

Even the older feature set will have restrictions. Image Playground and Apple's other in-house image-generation tools will be excluded to comply with local regulations, while some text-generation features will be limited in certain apps.

The December target follows several missed launch windows. Apple had previously expected a release in May 2025, then by the end of that year, and later in spring 2026, as it waited for regulatory clearance.

Apple Intelligence was registered for public use in China in July, but that preliminary approval did not immediately clear the way for a consumer launch. More recently, the company held additional discussions with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. On September 29, it received permits allowing recent iPhones to support Apple Intelligence and Alibaba's Qwen and Tongyi Wanxiang models.

The localized platform uses guardrails developed with Alibaba, including a filter that allows the Chinese government to approve ongoing model updates. Baidu is also working with Apple on search and Siri features. Earlier reporting indicated that Apple had trained its own model for China with Alibaba's support.

Apple declined to comment on the plans. The proposed rollout would arrive in a market where Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo, and other phone makers already offer their own AI services.

China is not the only market still waiting for the new assistant. Siri AI remains unavailable on iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch in the European Union, even though most of this year's other Apple Intelligence features launched there in September. There is still no clear timeline for approval of the assistant in the region.